L'AQUILA, Italy, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The measures adopted by the Chinese government to tackle the global financial crisis have proven to be effective, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo said here Thursday.

    Dai delivered a speech on behalf of Chinese President Hu Jintao at the leaders' meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) and five leading emerging economies (G5) -- China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.

    Hu cut short his stay in Italy, skipped the G8 meeting due to the situation in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He returned to Beijing Wednesday.

    Noting that the international financial crisis has brought considerable difficulties and challenges to China's economy, Dai said the Chinese government has adopted a series of resolute measures to tackle some thorny issues and these measures have seen initial achievements.

    These measures include a proactive fiscal policy and a moderately easy monetary policy, a stimulus package worth 4000 billion yuan (about 587 billion U.S. dollars) designed to expand domestic demand, and a tax-cut package of 500 billion yuan (around 73 billion U.S. dollars), Dai said.

    China also has striven to readjust its economic structure, accelerate infrastructure construction, seek balanced development between urban and rural areas, and improve social security system and people's life, Dai said.

    Thanks to these measures, China's GDP (gross domestic product) rose 6.1 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year he added.

    According to a press release by the Chinese delegation, in the first five months of this year, on a yearly basis, the fixed-asset investment in urban areas jumped by 32.9 percent in China, the retail sales grew by 15 percent, and the industrial output increased by 6.3 percent.

    The state councilor said China would continue to cooperate with the international community to fight the international financial crisis, and would continue to make due contribution to the recovery of world economy.