Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government (11)

We will accelerate implementation of the free trade zone strategy.

We wish to actively negotiate and sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. We will help speed up negotiations on the establishment of the China-Japan-RoK free trade area. We will work to make progress in negotiations on investment agreements between China and the United States and between China and the European Union. We will help strengthen collective strategic research on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. China wishes to work with all interested parties to move ahead with trade and investment liberalization and establish an international economic and trade system that is balanced, inclusive, and beneficial for all.

6. Step up environmental governance efforts and work to see breakthroughs in green development

Pollution control and environmental protection are important to both the health of our people and sustainable development, so we must work hard moving forward and resolve to take a path that leads to both economic development and environmental improvement.

-- We will take strong measures against air and water pollution.

This year, we will ensure that chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen emissions are both reduced by 2%, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions are cut by 3%, and the density of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in key areas continues to fall. We will focus on promoting the reduction of emissions from the burning of coal and motor vehicles. We will work to promote cleaner and more efficient use of coal, ensure there is less use of untreated coal, and do more to see coal substituted with electricity and natural gas. We will upgrade coal-burning power plants nationwide to achieve ultra-low emissions and energy efficiency, and we will move faster to shut down coal-fired boilers that do not meet compulsory standards.

We will increase natural gas supply, improve policy support for the development of wind, solar, and biomass energy, and increase the proportion of clean energy in total energy consumption. We will encourage a whole range of forms of straw utilization and restrict open burning. We will push for the use of automobile gasoline and diesel fuel that meet National-V standards nationwide and see that 3.8 million old or high-emission vehicles are taken off the roads.

We will coordinate efforts to prevent and control air pollution in regions where it presents a problem. We will press ahead with the nationwide development and upgrading of urban sewage treatment facilities, and strengthen comprehensive efforts aimed at controlling agricultural pollution from non-point sources and at improving the water environment in river basin areas. We will step up efforts to deal with industrial pollution at the source and conduct online monitoring of all polluting enterprises. We will strengthen environmental inspection and reward and punish as appropriate. We must ensure that the newly revised Environmental Protection Law is strictly enforced, that those who emit pollutants beyond the limit allowed by their permit or without a permit are severely punished as stipulated by law, and that those who knowingly allow such violations are held to account in accordance with the law.

-- We will work to develop the energy conservation and environmental protection industries.

We will ensure that environmental standards are applied in more areas. We will improve policy support to encourage the use of energy-saving and environmentally friendly advanced technologies and equipment, promote on a large scale contracted energy management and third-party treatment of environmental pollution, and work to see that energy-saving renovations in buildings are strengthened and efforts are accelerated to make traditional manufacturing more eco-friendly. We will encourage everyone to conserve energy and water, make progress in using sorted treatment of waste, improve the networks for recycling renewable resources, and turn the energy conservation and environmental protection industries into pillar industries underpinning China's development.

-- We will continue to develop ecological security barriers.

We will improve mechanisms for compensating for ecological conservation efforts. Commercial logging in natural forests will be banned, and a new round of subsidy and award policies for grassland ecological conservation efforts will be implemented. Trials to comprehensively deal with the over-abstraction of groundwater will be moved ahead, more will be done to protect and restore wetlands and other ecosystems, and continued efforts will be made to curb desertification, rock desertification, and soil erosion. Every one of us has an obligation to protect the environment -- we call on every member of society to act and contribute to the building of a Beautiful China.

7. Strengthen social development to promote people's well being

The best form of governance is that which puts people's wellbeing first. We must never lose sight of this and do more to improve the lives of our people and address their concerns. Growth in government revenue is slowing, but when it comes to getting things done for the welfare of the people, we mustn't drop a single thing.

-- We will promote growth in employment and new businesses.

We will pursue a more proactive employment policy and encourage business startups that create employment. This year, there will be up to 7.65 million college graduates. We will use multiple channels to increase employment and encourage entrepreneurship by implementing initiatives for promoting employment of college graduates and guiding them in starting up their own businesses. We will make good use of the surplus from unemployment insurance funds and increase funds for keeping job creation stable to provide skills training for laid-off enterprise employees and help them find new employment and offer basic needs assistance to those in urban areas who face difficulties in securing employment. Over 21 million training opportunities should be provided for migrant workers to improve their skills. We will strengthen assistance for flexible employment and new forms of employment. We will see that demobilized military personnel are settled into new jobs or have good access to employment and business startup services.

-- We will promote fairer access to quality education.

Education is where a country's future and its people's hopes and aspirations lie. We will allocate a greater share of funds for public education to the central and western regions and to remote and poor areas. We will unify the urban and rural mechanisms for funding compulsory education and improve conditions in boarding schools and schools which are badly built or poorly operated. We will support the development of kindergartens open to all children. We will see that special needs education is well provided. We will work faster to modernize the vocational education system and, type by type, begin waiving all tuition and miscellaneous fees at schools providing secondary vocational education. Students from families with financial difficulties will be the first to be exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees at regular senior high schools. The salary and other benefits of teachers in rural areas will be increased. We will move faster to promote distance learning and expand the reach of quality educational resources. Institutions of higher learning should strengthen their teaching and their capacity for innovation. Regular undergraduate institutions will be encouraged to shift their focus toward providing applied education if they are in a position to do so. We will continue to help see the increased enrollment of students from poor rural areas into key colleges, and improve and implement policies enabling children who live with their migrant worker parents to go to secondary school or take college entrance exams in their city of residence. We will support the development of privately run educational institutions and work to ensure they meet all relevant standards. (mo