TIRANA, March 11 /ATA/-By Almarina Gegvataj/ – The morning of March put China into the spotlight of international media and politics as the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China convened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) will examine over two weeks the country’s policies and direction for the nation’s unstoppable economic transformation.
More than 3000 reporters from all over the world, who had created a long queue in front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, tried to record every detail as a large number of delegates walked in to attend this important annual session for the country.
This year’s two session, the National People’s Assembly and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are considered very important as they will define China’s future policy and direction. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. This is the world’s largest session as it includes more than 2 980 delegates from all over provinces and China’s Armed Forces.
The delegations also include 742 women, with many of them attraction attention of participants and guests due to their traditional costumes.
A 36-page report on the government’s work in English was made available to reporters and it was presented by the Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who for around two hours highlighted the nation’s achievements over the past five years and the objectives for the next five years.
China’s unstoppable goal
Over the last four decades, since it embarked on a journey of economic transformation and opening up by launching a series of reforms, China has made significant progress by radically transforming the country’s landscape.
During the session of the 13th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China which will elect the new Standing Committee, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang summed up his government’s work over the past five years, when the strength of the economy has grown substantially. China’s GDP rose from 54 trillion yuan in 2012 to 82.7 trillion yuan and grew at an average annual rate of 7.1%, contributing more than 30% of global economic growth. He emphasized that the high-speed railway lines, online shopping, mobile payments, genetic testing, and other new sectors are becoming the driving force which lead world’s economic development.
China is committed to maintaining its projected 6.5 percent GDP growth also in 2018.
Considering China’s economic basis and its capacities to generate new jobs, the GDP growth rate at around 6.5 percent will enable China to ensure a relatively full employment, the report says.
“On the other hand, in terms of the goals for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the objectives set out in the 13th Five-Year Plan, a growth rate of around 6.5% will allow us to ensure that China’s GDP in 2020 is double what it was in 2010; it will also help to guide market expectations and keep them stable. We will make new progress in supply-side structural reform, accelerate upgrading of the manufacturing sector, and speed up the development of strategic emerging industries. The value-added of the service sector is projected to grow by about 7.6%, enabling services to contribute 52.2% of GDP,” Prime Minister Li Keqiang said.
China aims at maintaining a 3% inflation target, whereas a total of over 11 million new urban jobs will be created. The urban unemployment rate is targeted to be less than 5.5%, and the registered urban unemployment rate will stay within 4.5%.
The Chinese government aims at building a prosperous society in all respects, taking into account the fact the China’s economy is experiencing a high and fast growth rate and is ongoing transition to a stage of high-quality development.
The number of people living in poverty in rural areas is targeted to fall by at least 10 million, and about 2.8 million people will be lifted out of poverty by relocating from inhospitable areas. Increases in both urban and rural personal income will stay basically in step with economic growth. Access to basic public services such as education, health, culture, and elderly care services will be made more equitable; social security coverage will be further expanded in an effort to achieve access for everyone; and renovations will begin on 5.8 million units of housing in run-down urban areas.
China’s material and technological bases are solid, its industrial system completed, its market is huge, human resources are abundant and entrepreneurs and innovators are dynamic, the report notes.
Another government objective is to cut the energy consumption per unit of GDP by at least 3%, whereas carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 3.9%, and emissions of major pollutants will continue to fall.
China International Import Expo to be held for the first time
A steady rise in import and export volumes, keep foreign direct investment stable overall, and maintaining steady and orderly growth in outward direct investment is another clear objective of the Chinese government for the next five years.
PM Li Keqiang said that these tasks are an essential element in maintaining macroeconomic stability and an inherent part of our efforts to optimize the investment structure and trade mix, turn China into a trader of quality, and realize high-quality opening up. He voiced optimism that this year, the global economy looks likely to continue its recovery, general increases in international trade are expected to continue.
To encourage imports and exports, the China International Import Expo will be held for the first time, all of which will contribute to achieving steady growth in foreign trade.
“However, given the increasingly fierce international industrial competition and the possibility of China experiencing increased trade protection and friction, we still have a lot to do to maintain the positive trends in foreign investment and trade,” the Premier noted in his government’s report.
Chinese government also pledges to continue to cut taxes and fees to support the development of the real economy.
“Taxes are projected to be cut by more than 800 billion yuan; after charges and fees undergo further reviews and cuts, we expect to save enterprises and individuals over 1 trillion yuan. General transfer payments to local governments will increase by 10.9% to strengthen their financial capacity, especially those in the central and western regions,” the Premier said.
New era of investment
PM Keqiang pledged that his government will will relax restrictions on market access in an orderly fashion, expanding the scale of opening up in finance, telecommunications, education, and other sectors, while fully opening up the general manufacturing sector.
“We will improve laws concerning foreign investment and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. Promoting the development of pilot free trade zones in accordance with high standards and quality requirements, we will hand over greater decision-making power in reform to these zones and carry out exploratory work on setting up free trade ports with Chinese features. We will take active and prudent measures to promote bidirectional opening up in the capital market, and improve unified, macro-prudential management of cross-border financing,” he went on saying.
Chinese government will also seek to create new patterns of outward investment, deepen international industrial-capacity cooperation, promote the building of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and let investment drive the growth of foreign trade and industries.
China also pledges to actively participate in and promote economic globalization.
“We will do our utmost to ensure China successfully hosts the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization 2018 Summit, the 2018 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the First China International Import Expo, and other diplomatic events. We will support the United Nations and the G20 in playing their roles as the main platforms for global governance, and see that· APEC, BRICS, and other cooperation mechanisms also play their part. We will continue to deepen cooperation in bilateral and multilateral investment and trade, support the multilateral trade system, and work to promote high-standard facilitation of trade and investment,” PM Keqiang stated.
China aims at building a market system that ensures fair and orderly competition.
“We will fully implement and keep improving the negative list system for market access in order to clear away discriminative restrictions and hidden barriers and expand market access for private investors. We will formulate and implement plans for winning the battle against pollution and an action plan for making our skies blue again, in an effort to sustain the forward momentum in preventing and controlling air, water, and soil pollution.” the government’s report notes.
Opening up on all fronts
“Continuing to place equal emphasis on “bringing in” and “going global,” we will move faster to cultivate new strengths in international economic cooperation and competition,” Keqiang said.
China remains committed to actively promote international cooperation under the One Belt One Road initiative, and improve the development strategies and plans of participating countries.
“We will speed up the construction of railways, highways, telecommunications networks, power grids, ports, industrial cooperation parks, and energy infrastructure, and strengthen the connectivity of policies, rules, and standards of countries involved in the Initiative. We will promote the healthy and orderly development of China-Europe freight train services. We will continue to develop the Digital (Online) Silk Road and set up space information corridors and see they are put to good use. We will deepen cultural exchange and cooperation and strengthen security risk prevention and control.”
All these objectives demonstrate the fact the fact that China continues to integrate and unstoppably contribute to the global economy, while keeping on wisely and persistently transforming life of its citizens.
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