Promote sound, sustainable and quality development

China will put people's interests first, pay more attention to improving people's wellbeing and pursue common prosperity. Everything we do is to enable all to have better lives, and this is the criterion to measure the performance of our work. Our goal is to bring the benefits of development to all, improve people's wellbeing and advance social progress in all respects. We will give priority to job creation and create equitable job opportunities for all. We will adjust income distribution, ensure that personal income grows in step with economic growth and that labor remuneration grows in step with increase of productivity. We will gradually raise the share of personal income in national income distribution and the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution. We expect that per capita urban disposable income and per capita rural net income will both grow by more than 7 percent annually. We will put in place systems providing basic old age care and medical and healthcare for the whole population, and extend the coverage of government-subsidized housing to 20 percent of the urban population. China will continue to deepen reform and opening-up and resolutely remove institutional hurdles to pursuing sustainable development. China owes its rapid development in the past 30 years and more to reform and opening-up, and this will be equally true for its future development. We will continue to advance both economic and political structural reform. We will uphold and improve the basic economic system, speed up fiscal, taxation and financial reform, reform of prices of factors of production, reform of monopoly sectors and other important fields, and strive to make major progress in these reforms. We will exercise governance pursuant to law and address the institutional causes for over concentration of power and lack of checks on it. We will protect people's democratic rights and their lawful rights and interests so as to uphold fairness and justice.

China cannot develop in isolation from the world and the world also needs China for its development. Here, I wish to reiterate that China's opening-up to the outside world is a long-term commitment which covers all fields and is mutually beneficial. This basic state policy will never change. We will continue to get actively involved in economic globalization and work to build a fair and equitable international trading regime and financial system. We will continue to improve foreign-related economic laws, regulations and policies so as to make China's investment environment in keeping with international standard, transparent and more business friendly.

While the world economy is slowly recovering, uncertainties and destabilizing factors are growing. Both the advanced and emerging economies have experienced a slowdown in growth. Sovereign debt risks are growing in some countries, causing turbulence in the international financial market. Unemployment in major advanced economies remains high, while emerging economies are facing upward inflationary pressure. All these show that world economic recovery will be a long-term, difficult and complicated process. In addressing the Davos forum in early 2009, I said that the crisis is a global challenge. To overcome it, we need to have confidence, strengthen cooperation and live up to our responsibility. The crisis also puts to test the international community's sincerity for and commitment to cooperation, and it puts to test our wisdom. I still hold this view today. With so many uncertainties facing global economic recovery, the international community must have more confidence, enhance cooperation and jointly tackle the challenges. We should strengthen dialogue and coordination on macroeconomic policy and accelerate the building of a just, equitable, sound and stable new world economic order. Governments should fulfill their responsibilities and put their own house in order. The major developed economies should adopt responsible and effective fiscal and monetary policies, properly handle debt issues, ensure the safety and stable operation of investment in the market, and maintain the confidence of investors around the world.

China's economy is generally in good shape. Since the beginning of this year, its growth has taken an orderly shift from being driven by policy stimulus to self-generating strength, moving in the right direction of macroeconomic regulation. In the first half of this year, its GDP grew by 9.6 percent, and its trade surplus decreased by 17.6 percent, thanks to increasing domestic consumption. A total of 6.55 million urban jobs have been created. Price rises as a whole are under control, market supply of important goods is ensured and structural adjustment of economic sectors is moving forward. Business profits and government revenues are increasing quite fast. People's income has steadily increased, and their lives have further improved. Since the second quarter, the economic growth has dropped somewhat, but this is mostly the result of proactive macro regulation and is not beyond our expectation. We will address the pressing challenges and continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy. We will maintain continuity and stability in macroeconomic policy and make policy responses more targeted, flexible and forward-looking in light of changes in the economy. We will maintain control over the intensity, pace and focus of macroeconomic regulation and strike a balance among maintaining stable and fast economic growth, adjusting economic structure and managing inflation expectation. This will enable us to maintain general stability of prices, prevent major economic fluctuations and meet this year's goals for economic and social development.

I am confident that China's economy will grow over a longer period, at a higher level and with better quality and make new contribution to robust, sustainable growth of the global economy. We sincerely welcome foreign companies to actively involve themselves in China's reform and opening up process and share the opportunities and benefits of China's prosperity and progress.

(China Daily 09/15/2011 page9)