Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you for your introduction, Mr. Zhao. Next, we'll move on to the question-and-answer session. Please identify the media outlet you represent before asking a question.

China Development and Reform News:

Currently, the internal and external environment for China's development is becoming more complicated and severe, while economic development is facing new downward pressure. Can our country achieve this year's GDP growth target of around 5.5%? How will the government facilitate the policy toolbox to effectively stabilize economic performance? Thank you.

Ou Hong:

Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis have led to more risks and challenges, thus China's economy has seen increasing complexity, severity, and uncertainty in pursuing growth and also faced new challenges in ensuring its stable growth, stable employment, and stable prices. In the face of new downward pressure on the economic performance, we must resolutely implement the Party Central Committee's requirements of containing the epidemic, stabilizing the economy, and keeping development secure, focusing on fully implementing all policies that have been introduced. We must also effectively coordinate the epidemic response with economic and social development and effectively coordinate both development and security.

First, we should fully implement all policies that have been introduced. This year's economic work was outlined at the Central Economic Work Conference and in the government work report. Recently, the State Council has also introduced a package of policies and measures to stabilize the economy. We should speed up the implementation of various established policies to deliver results, focus on removing all impediments that restrict the flows of the economy, and actively expand effective demand. We should intensify our efforts to help enterprises ease their difficulties, adopt multiple measures to stabilize employment and work to ensure the supply of essential commodities related to people's livelihoods and stabilize their prices. We should further unleash the policy effect, effectively stabilize the economic performance, and keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range. In the near future, we should, in particular, accelerate the promotion of a number of projects covering water conservancy, transportation, underground utility tunnels, and other areas that secure both short-term and long-term benefits, so that related work can begin as soon as possible. We should implement multiple policies to promote consumption in such areas as automobiles and home appliances and accelerate the release of the consumption potential. 

Second, we should take well-coordinated steps to respond to COVID-19 and pursue economic and social development. As the ongoing pandemic situation remains grave and complex, we must never falter in our commitment to the overall strategy of preventing imported cases and domestic resurgences as well as the general principle of dynamic zero-COVID, and intensify efforts to boost our capacity to control COVID-19 with targeted and science-based measures in all fields in an all-round manner. We must act quickly to review good experiences and practices and apply them on a broad scale, and adjust and improve the response measures in view of the evolving COVID-19. We must resolutely avoid an oversimplified and one-size-fits-all approach, and allow local governments to take excessive policy steps. Meanwhile, we must race against time to further smooth transportation and logistics, and accelerate the resumption of work and production to meet people's basic living needs. We must step up efforts to carry out regular COVID-19 controls and maintain normal production and everyday life to protect people's lives and health to the maximum extent possible and minimize the impact of COVID-19 on social and economic development.

Third, we should balance development and security imperatives. We should firmly maintain bottom-line thinking, manage risks in key sectors and forestall systemic risks. In particular, we should further ensure food and energy security as well as the security and stability of industrial and supply chains. At present, our main task is to accelerate efforts to implement the food crop production strategy based on farmland management and technological application, and improve production, supply, storage and marketing systems. Ensuring safe, clean and efficient utilization, China will release high-quality production capacity of coal in an orderly manner, accelerate the construction of large wind power and photovoltaic bases primarily located in sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts, and promote breakthroughs in core technologies in key sectors.

At the same time, to deal with more complex and difficult situations, we will take into consideration solving difficulties, expand and improve reserved policies regularly, and issue them promptly based on new developments. In view of recent economic developments, we have coordinated the COVID-19 response with economic growth and security in accordance with the requirements of the central leadership. We have brought COVID-19 under control in key regions, boosted the resumption of work and production, and exerted the role of policies to stabilize growth. The economy showed marginal improvement in May, with the main indicators picking up. More importantly, China's economy remains resilient with strong potential and ample room for growth. We have full confidence in overcoming difficulties and challenges in economic operation, and have the ability to cope with changes possible beyond expectations to ensure steady, sound and sustainable economic development.

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