At 9 a.m., the 70-year-old premier of China Wen Jiabao began delivering his last government work report to the top legislature that opened its annual session on Tuesday. It took him nearly 100 minutes.

Wen has served the Constitution-limit two terms and will leave office when the legislature's annual session decides his successor later this month.

After his decade-long premiership, Wen announced in his last government work report that "we now envision an ever-brighter future for our great country."

On March 18, 2003, Wen became the sixth premier of the People's Republic of China. He vowed in his debut press conference that day to "devote his life to the task until death and live up to expectations." He assumed the premiership again in 2008.

Five years on, Wen stressed "development" the most in the government report on Tuesday.

He said the past half decade was "an extraordinary period of time in the course of China's development."

Wen continued, "Development is still the key to solving all our problems."

He also said, "Without economic development, nothing can be done."

In the past 10 years, China overtook Britain, France, Germany and Japan to become the second largest economy in the world, now only behind the United States. It's the global top exporter and holds the largest amount of foreign reserves

For Wen, it has been a decade with a State Council executive meeting every less than ten days. In these meetings, decisions were adopted to abolish the long-standing agricultural tax, which lifted Chinese farmers from a multi-thousand-year-long burden, and establish a medical insurance network in rural areas.

Meanwhile, China achieved great breakthroughs in manned space missions, lunar exploitation programs, super computers and high-speed railways. The country hosted the Olympic Games and the World Expo.

However, "unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development remains a prominent problem," Wen straightforwardly pointed out the problems of China in the work report.

Yet, he also said, "China remains in an important period of strategic opportunities during which much can be accomplished."

The report set a number of economic goals: 7.5 percent annual GOP growth rate, an inflation target of 3.5 percent, adding 9 million new jobs, and a deficit increase to 1.2 trillion yuan (about 191 billion U.S. dollars).

As he left the podium for his seat after delivering the report, Wen bowed three times to nearly 3,000 national lawmakers in the largest auditorium of the Great Hall of the People, who responded with a round of warm applause.

A microblogger user who goes by the name of "Luoyiwen" posted online, "In the eyes of many people, Grandpa Wen is a responsible and amiable premier, who has always devoted himself to his duty. As he will retire in a couple of days, he can enjoy a life like an ordinary old man."

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)