Xi: Reform key to boosting development

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, chairs a symposium on economic and social work in Beijing, capital of China, Aug 24, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Nation's new growth pattern called a strategic response to changing situation

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underlined the importance of promoting deeper－level reform and higher－level opening－up in order to provide a strong boost for the country's establishment of a new development pattern.

In remarks delivered at a meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform, Xi said that the new development pattern in which the domestic economic cycle plays a leading role with the domestic and international economic cycles complementing each other, is a strategic decision made on the basis of changes facing China's development situation. Xi is also the head of the committee.

Noting that China has introduced a series of major reform initiatives to push forward high－quality development and expand opening－up to the outside world since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Xi urged greater efforts to accelerate the implementation of these initiatives and ensure that they are directed toward the goal of establishing the new development pattern.

Xi stressed that the country's reform measures should consider the current situation as well as development in the medium and long term, requiring reforms to be accelerated to raise the efficiency of resource allocation and improve development quality and its effectiveness.

While reforms should be coordinated to have an overall effect, Xi called for synergy between building the new development pattern and the country's coordinated regional development strategy of building free trade pilot zones. Regions where conditions permit can take the lead in exploring the establishment of a new development pattern and become new platforms of reform and opening－up, he said.

Xi also required forward－looking research on reforms in order to deal with unstable and uncertain factors in a more proactive way.

Meeting participants underscored the importance of standing on the right side of history without being obstructed by the headwinds of unilateralism and protectionism in today's world, said a statement released after the meeting.

The meeting reaffirmed China's commitment to expanding openingup, strengthening the interconnectedness of the domestic and international economies, ensuring both development and security, comprehensively guarding against risks and challenges, and pushing forward the innovative development of foreign trade.

Noting that supply－side structural reform should be the main task, the meeting asked for efforts to deepen innovations in science and technology, systems and businesses models so as to further promote trade facilitation and improve the development environment for foreign trade.

The meeting also discussed other issues including the revitalization of higher education in China's central and western regions, supervision of the behavior of medical institutions and personnel as well as reform in rural areas.

Food security should be put in a prominent position, it said, requiring efforts to improve the country's systems and institutions for food security, speed up the transformation of the agricultural growth model and create more experience in exploring the development of modern agriculture.