The Central Economic Working Conference which closed in Beijing on November 17 has designed a number of guiding principles and general requirements for China's economic work in the coming year.

The conference said that at the direction of the Theory of Deng Xiaoping and the basic lines of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country should earnestly carry out the essence of the 15th CPC National Congress and the 3rd and 4th plenary sessions of the 15th CPC Central Committee, continue to implement the series of policy measures designed by the CPC Central Committee for promoting reform and development, with the emphasis on the reform and development of SOEs, economic restructuring, scientific and technological advancement, and the expansion of domestic demand.

Efforts should be made to further stabilize the status of agriculture as the foundation of the national economy, readjust agricultural and rural economic structures, and try every means to increase farmers' income, according to the conference.

It stressed that the reform of SOEs should be put at the core of economic work in an attempt to turn losses into profits and actively promote the establishment of a modern corporate system.

China will continue to implement pro-active fiscal policies, give further play to the role of monetary policies, and use taxation, pricing and other macro-economic control measures in a comprehensive way to reinforce infrastructure construction, technological upgrading, scientific and technological innovation, and make efforts to expand consumption, the conference said.

Efforts should also be made to further open up to the outside world, actively increase exports and imports, and improve the level of the use of overseas investment, it said.

The conference pointed out that the social security system should be improved, and attention be paid to reinforcing poverty relief work and further improving people's lives.

The relationship between reform, development and stability should be correctly handled, it stressed, so as to ensure a sustained, fast and healthy development of the national economy, promote overall social advancement, and meet the new century with outstanding achievements. (Xinhua)