Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored the implementation of the nation's new development concepts of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth, while urging improved environmental protection during a trip to northwestern China.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while visiting Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from Monday through Wednesday.
China's economy made progress while remaining stable in general terms in the first half of the year, Xi said.
The country should work to tackle deep-rooted problems that constrain its economic growth, and seek solid economic foundations and longer-term benefits in order to improve the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of its economy, said Xi.
He said the new development concepts -- proposed in the country's roadmap for social and economic development for 2016-2020 -- shall be integrated throughout the entire process of China's social and economic development and its efforts to build a "moderately prosperous society" in an all-round way.
In China's supply-side structural reform, less developed regions should seek new achievements just as developed regions do, Xi said.
Authorities should properly handle relations between supply and demand and between the government and the market, and make sure that the market is allowed to play a decisive role in allocating resources while the government plays a better role.
Less developed regions could benefit from the innovation-driven development strategy and seek to improve their strength in scientific innovation through interaction with, or help from, China's eastern and more developed areas, Xi said.
The Chinese President meanwhile noted that Ningxia is an important ecological security barrier in northwestern China, and said construction of "green barriers" should be strengthened.
Protection of water resources should be reinforced, especially at headstreams and significant lakes and wetlands, to prevent water pollution, he said.
Xi also called for the protection of the Yellow River, saying pollution of the river, known as China's "Mother River," must be eliminated.
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