Premier underlines reform, opening-up, people’s livelihood

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for joint efforts to advance reform and opening-up, promote innovation, sustain economic growth and improve people’s livelihood at the ongoing national legislative session Tuesday.

Efforts should be made to strengthen and improve the real economy, Xi said as he joined a panel discussion with the deputies from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress, China’s national legislature.Chinese economy has transitioned from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, warning that old ways of thinking might lead China almost nowhere and miss precious opportunities.Local governments should build on their strengths and tap their potential to develop more emerging, high-end, high-value-added and capital-and-technology-intensive industries, putting in place a multi-dimension and multi-pillar modern industrial mix, Xi pointed out.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region should well develop the modern energy sector by following the latest global industrial trends. The energy sector’s industrial chain should be extended and utilization rate improved, according to Xi. He also called on the region to develop modern equipment manufacturing, modern services and other emerging sectors like new material, biomedicine, electronics and information, energy conservation, and environmental protection to lend fresh growth momentum. The region should enhance infrastructure development and make full use of its geographical position for better resource allocation and production layout, Xi said.

 

 

Debt risks should be closely watched and effectively prevented, Xi added.

Xi called for more efforts on environmental protection. The management of mountain, water, forest, land, and lake should be planned as a whole. Important projects should be pushed forward elaborately, including the northwest-north-northeast China networks of shelterbelts.

The region should try its best to strike a balance between grass and livestock, strengthen desertification prevention and wetland conservation as well as controlling water, air, and soil pollution.

Xi called for more intensive and precise efforts to help villages with a large number of impoverished residents shake off poverty.

Efforts should focus on issues like industrial development, employment, infrastructure, public services, and healthcare. The medical security system should be improved to address poverty caused by illness, he said.

The president said the poverty alleviation fight should be complemented with China’s rural vitalization strategy to improve living conditions of farmers and herdsmen.