China is expected to rein in its two-year-old trend of deflation by the end of this year, Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, said Monday.

Zeng told a press conference at the on-going Third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) that thanks to improved domestic and international economic conditions and the Chinese government's policy to expand domestic demand, "the trend of deflation will be basically reversed."

He gave an upbeat prediction to economic growth this year.

"I am confident that economic growth will reach the target of seven percent this year. If we do a good job in implementing government policies, the growth rate may even be higher," he said.

Noting that China's foreign trade volume has begun to bounce back in the latter half of last year, he said that China's imports and exports may score more points.

Zeng admitted to uncertain factors that may affect China's foreign trade this year, including the lingering impact of the Asian economic crisis.

In response to a question, he said that China plans to put 70 percent of the proceeds from treasury bonds, government-appropriated funds and foreign loans into revitalizing its vast western areas this year.

Ten "major" development projects will be launched, in addition to 78 key projects which will garner 30 billion yuan of government funding this year.

Responding to a question about China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said that over the 13 years of protracted negotiations for China's accession to the world trade body, China has not slowed down its pace of opening wider to the outside world, though the U.S. failed to grant the permanent NTR treatment to China.

"We hope the U.S. would make good its commitment and grant the permanent NTR treatment to China as early as possible, as part of the WTO deal reached between the two countries," he said.