Starting to Gather Opinions from Various Sectors About a Month Before the Two Sessions
On the 6th, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held an expert symposium to gather opinions from various sectors on the government work report to be announced next month. This signifies that preparations for the Lianghui, China's largest annual political event (the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), which is just a month away, have officially begun.
China Central Television (CCTV) and others reported that Premier Li invited experts, scholars, and businesspeople to the symposium, where he listened to opinions from various sectors and introduced the direction of China's economic management for this year. Premier Li evaluated that "despite last year's COVID-19 situation, the number of new urban jobs reached 12 million, and the inflation rate was maintained at a reasonable level of 2%." He added, "We must stimulate market vitality and social creativity through reforms such as reform and opening-up and service sector reform," and emphasized, "We should take the people's aspirations as the guiding principle of governance and focus on solving livelihood issues."
Premier Li stated, "China's economic growth began to stabilize at the end of last year and rebounded at the beginning of this year," and urged, "We must continue to expand the rebound trend in economic management."
Premier Li will deliver the 2023 government work report, including this year's economic growth target, at the opening ceremony of the National People's Congress, one of the two main sessions of the Lianghui, which opens on the 4th of next month. Prior to this, a process of gathering opinions from various sectors such as experts, businesspeople, non-Communist Party members, and local governments will be conducted several times over about a month.
Although China's economic growth rate last year was 3.0%, falling short of the target of 5.5% due to strong epidemic prevention policies, experts predict that this year it will be set at around 5-6%.
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