China starts annual session

Beijing: The 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature, opened its second session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state were present at the opening meeting, which was attended by nearly 3,000 NPC deputies.

Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan sat on the stage with members of the legislative session’s presidium. Li Zhanshu announced the opening at 9 a.m.

Li Keqiang delivered the government work report on behalf of the State Council to the legislature for deliberation.

Li Keqiang said though China faced a complicated and challenging environment rarely seen in many years with the economy under new downward pressure, the nation managed to accomplish main targets for economic and social development in 2018.

“We must face the problems and challenges squarely, shoulder our responsibility, fully perform our duties, and do all we can to truly live up to people’s expectations,” he said.

Looking to 2019, he announced some of the main projected targets for economic and social development that include 6-6.5 percent GDP growth, over 11 million new urban jobs, CPI increase of around 3 percent, a reduction of over 10 million in the rural poor population, among others.

Ten main tasks were further outlined for the government’s work this year. Li Keqiang said it is necessary to sustain healthy economic development and maintain social stability to create a pivotal underpinning for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with outstanding accomplishments.

At the opening meeting, the report on the implementation of the 2018 plan for national economic and social development and on the 2019 draft plan for national economic and social development, and the report on the execution of the central and local budgets for 2018 and on the draft central and local budgets for 2019 were submitted to the legislature for deliberation.