The world's second largest economy, China has announced a 7.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) target for 2014 as the country's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), began this year's annual parliamentary session On March 5.
The Second Session of the 12th NPC which is expected to end on March 13, 2014 is being attended by the 2,987 deputies.
More than 3000 local and international journalists are covering the session which will review implementation of the budgets for the central and local governments for 2013 and deliberate on the country's budget for 2014, among other salient matters.
Addressing the opening sitting of the session, China's Premier, Mr Li Keqiang also announced that the country would keep the rise in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 3.5 per cent and create 10 million more urban jobs during the year.
"China is still a developing country in the primary stage of socialism, and development remains the key to solving all our problems. We must keep economic development as the central task and maintain a proper economic growth rate", he said.
He stated that the target was in keeping with China's goal to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, which according to him, would boost market confidence and promote economic structural adjustment.
China's economy last year, which was stable reached 56.9 trillion yuan ($9.4 trillion), an increase of 7.7 per cent over the previous year while the rise of CPI was kept at 2.6 per cent.
Mr Li said for the country to fulfill this year's economic and social development agenda, the government aims at creating impetus to ensure that the market played the decisive role in the allocation of resources, among others.
He said while maintaining steady growth, China needed to shift from relying mainly on on increasing input of factors of production to making development driven more by innovation, and from relying mainly on traditional comparative strengths to utilising overall competitive advantages.
"We need to move up from the low to middle range of international division of labour to the middle to the high range, and shift from unbalanced urban-rural development".
Premier Li explained that the country would foster a new open economy system and advance a new round of opening up to embrace the international market.
"We will continue to utilise foreign investment actively and efficiently, open more service sectors to foreign capital and level the playing field for domestic and foreign enterprises to compete on fair terms so as to ensure that China remains a top choice for foreign investment", he added.
On employment, Mr Li said the policy to create more jobs and provide non-stop employment and business startup service would be invigorated to increase the rate of employment for college graduates against the backdrop that this year alone, 7.27 million college students will be graduating in China.
He pledged that China as a responsible power would actively participate in international, multilateral affairs, play constructive role in resolving global and hotspot issues, earnestly safeguard international fairness and justice and work to make international order more just and equitable.
Mr Li called on Chinese to work hard to break new ground and strive to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects to enable the country to realise its dream rejuvenated.
On Monday, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a key institution in. China's political system also began its session to offer suggestion and criticisms over the work of the government.
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