Premier Li Keqiang inspected Tongren city and Guiyang city, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, from July 6 to 7, accompanied by provincial Party secretary Sun Zhigang and provincial governor Shen Yiqin.

Premier Li headed directly to Beiyitong Co Ltd near the airport right after landing. He focused his attention on hundreds of impoverished citizens and over a thousand migrant workers.

Employees at the tech company told the Premier that having secured jobs at home helped them during the coronavirus epidemic.

Premier Li encouraged enterprises to expand production, facilitate poverty relief, and provide more positions for rural workers.

Employment is, he said, related to not only the economy but also people’s livelihoods, of which the latter is the very foundation of the whole nation. Hence authorities at all levels should leave no stone unturned to boost employment.

People’s livelihood stems from diligence, the Premier added, so everyone should work hard, become better at various technologies, and embrace a brighter future.

Due to the unusually turbulent rainfalls, Guizhou has been badly hit by wide-range flooding since June. Premier Li made a special visit to Guakou village, in Tongren city, and meticulously examined impoverished residents' houses that were badly damaged by mudslides.

He asked local officials to take good care of relocation work for flood-stricken residents. He also inquired after residents’ basic living conditions, including food supplies, and told them to carry on with epidemic prevention work and infrastructure restoration.

After hearing the report of flood control and disaster relief in Guizhou province, Premier Li required them to beef up monitoring and early warning, fulfill their duties in flood and waterlogging prevention and emergency rescue, safeguard people’s lives and property.

Premier Li required departments concerned to make overall arrangements in fiscal funds to support reconstruction of houses and facilities, especially for impoverished households and hard-hit areas.

Premier Li and local officials discussed the pressing matter of relocating impoverished residents from steep slopes. And he also chatted with villagers about their plans for poverty relief.

The Premier said that the poverty alleviation campaign has seen considerable progress through hard work in all ways. Although the COVID-19 outbreak and floods have made this work even more difficult, progress will be made as planned.

Local governments should help residents from returning to the state of poverty due to the epidemic or floods and reach the target of all-around victory in poverty alleviation in accordance with ongoing standards.

Premier Li heard reports from the Guizhou government on promoting construction of new infrastructure, new urbanization, and major projects, which remain the priority for China in expanding effective investment this year.

He also visited Tencent’s data center in Guizhou province.

Enormous potential exists in Guiyang city to grow the big data industry, he said, asking related departments to increase support for the construction of new infrastructure facilities, and back up the big data industry and other new-emerging industries.

At the Guizhou government affairs service center, Premier Li inquired about the local efforts in promoting administrative reform and online government services.

At the service windows for business, social security, and environmental impact assessment, he asked citizens whether the processing time was shortened and the cross-provincial affairs were proceeding smoothly.

Premier Li also talked with employees of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and was told that they have enjoyed benefits from the policies on tax and fee reductions.

As for the problems of low credit lines and difficulties in financing faced by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, the Premier urged related departments to deal with them.

He also called for efforts in deepening reform and opening-up, thus making greater room of development in the western regions.

Premier Li greatly appreciated the achievements made by Guizhou province in economic and social development, and expressed the hope that the province, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core, will follow the Party Central Committee and the State Council’s decisions, make stabilizing employment and ensuring people’s livelihoods its priority, win the battle against poverty, and reach the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-around way.

Secretary-General of the State Council Xiao Jie, and He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, also traveled with the Premier.