Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver a report on the work
of his cabinet at the opening meeting of the annual full session of
the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature,
scheduled to start in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 9
AM Monday.
Following are the highlights of Wen's 35-page Report on the Work
of the Government, which was distributed to journalists prior to
the opening of the NPC session:
Growth target
-- In 2007, China's GDP is projected to grow by about 8
percent.
-- The most important task is to promote sound and fast economic
development.
Macroeconomic regulation
-- Macroeconomic regulation must be strengthened and improved.
The focus of this work is to keep the scale of fixed asset
investment and credit under control and to promote overall balance
between total supply and total demand while improving the
structure.
Social harmony
-- Social harmony and stability as well as a better life are the
aspirations of all the people and an important goal for the work of
the government. This year the government will adopt more effective
measures and make major strides in building a harmonious socialist
society.
New socialist countryside
-- This year's work related to agriculture, rural areas and
farmers will focus on accelerating the development of modern
agriculture and effectively promoting the building of a new
socialist countryside.
-- Allocations from the central government budget for resolving
issues related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers will total
391.7 billion yuan, an increase of 52 billion yuan over last
year.
-- China will set up a nationwide basic minimum cost of living
allowance system this year for rural residents.
-- The trial area of the new type of rural cooperative medical
care system will be expanded this year to cover over 80 percent of
all counties, county-level cities and city districts in China.
Energy, environment and land
-- The country fell short of the targets set at the beginning of
2006 for cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 4
percent and total discharge of major pollutants by 2 percent.
-- This year China will take strong measures to save energy,
lower energy consumption, protect the environment and use land
intensively.
Foreign trade
-- China must optimize the mix of imports and exports, change
the pattern of its foreign trade growth and strive to reduce its
excessively large trade surplus.
-- Promoting economic development and increasing employment
through the growth of foreign trade is a principle China must
follow for a long time to come.
RMB exchange rate and foreign exchange
reserves
-- China will further improve the mechanism for setting the RMB
exchange rate, strengthen and improve foreign exchange
administration, and actively explore and develop channels and means
for appropriately using state foreign exchange reserves.
Education
-- Education is the bedrock of China's development, and fairness
in education is an important form of social fairness. China needs
to make education a strategic priority and accelerate the
development of all types of education at all levels.
-- A system of national scholarship and tuition assistance will
go into operation this school year for regular undergraduate
institutions, vocational colleges and secondary vocational schools.
The government will further implement the state student loan policy
to enable children from families with financial difficulties to
attend college or receive vocational education.
-- China will institute free education for students majoring in
education in teacher colleges directly under the Ministry of
Education and set up a corresponding system.
Income gap
-- China will deepen reform of the income distribution system to
narrow the increasing gaps in income levels and expand consumer
demand. The government will take a variety of measures to increase
the incomes of both urban and rural residents, especially low- and
middle-income persons.
Corporate income tax
-- The timing and conditions are now ripe for unifying the
enterprise income tax rates for domestic and overseas-funded
enterprises in order to level the playing field.
Real estate sector
-- The real estate industry should focus on developing
reasonably priced commercial housing for ordinary people. The
government will pay particular attention to addressing the housing
problems of low-income families.
-- The government will strengthen oversight and regulation of
housing prices, prevent overheating in housing prices and keep
prices at a reasonable level.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2007)