国内英语新闻:Chinese Premier calls for faster economic adjustment

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday the acceleration of the adjustment of China's development pattern while maintaining steady and fast economic growth must run through all the government's work this year.

The government should incorporate speeding up the transformation of the development mode into maintaining steady and relatively fast economic development, Wen said at a plenary meeting of the State Council, or Cabinet.

At the meeting, a draft government work report, to be delivered at an annual national session of the country's parliament, was discussed.

The government must strengthen macro-economic control and carefully handle the relationship between maintaining steady and relatively fast economic development, adjusting economic structure and managing inflation expectations in a bid to create favorable conditions to transform the development mode, he said.

The government would stick to the policy of expanding domestic demand this year to boost public consumption and optimize the investment structure, he said.

Wen said the country should make "substantial progress" in transforming the economic development mode by continuing to push forward renovation of key industries, fostering strategic emerging industries, promoting accelerated development of the service sector, and improving the overall quality and competitiveness of the national economy.

The government would comprehensively implement its strategy of reinvigorating the country through science, education and expertise, and enhance its efforts to turn China into an innovation-oriented country so as to give technological and personnel support for the transformation of the development mode, he said.

The government should also make efforts to improve the people's living standards and deepen reforms of "key fields" to establish a system which was conducive to the transformation, he said.

At the meeting, Wen also outlined key work to be done in the first quarter of this year, a period which he said was crucial for China's economic and social development this year.

He said the government must correctly judge the situation and make its macro-economic control policy more effective.

He also urged the government to optimize credit structure and maintain a good rhythm of credit supply to guard against financial risks.

A key task in adjusting the economic operation was to ease the supply and demand imbalance of electricity, coal, gas and transportation, he said.

He urged relevant authorities to lose no time to implement policies already introduced, "increase commercial residential building supply", and "contain speculative purchases of homes" to promote steady and healthy development of the real estate market.

Wen also called for enhanced efforts to ensure work safety and maintain social stability.

The participants of the meeting agreed to issue the draft government work report to central and local government organs to solicit opinions.