BEIJING, Jan. 31 -- The EU ambassador to China, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut said Wednesday that he was staying optimistic on the future of China's reform and opening up, even if economic shift was hard.

Schweisgut expressed his opinion in a forum hosted by the Global Times celebrating the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up in Beijing.

Schweisgut said China's economy was now shifting to become more consumption-based and more innovation-driven, which was a complex progress and qualitative change, bringing more difficulties for future reform.

However, Schweisgut said he was optimistic as the Chinese model had proven flexible enough to adjust to the situation, and he hoped it would continue to be flexible in the future.

Schweisgut said he thought China's leadership had recognized the challenges, and he said he hoped to see the implementation of more policies.

He said that during the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the cooperation between China and the EU had traveled a long way, expressing his hope that in the future China and the EU could build a more equal, fair and balanced bilateral economic relationship.