Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting

BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday chaired a State Council executive meeting that heard a report on the handling of suggestions from deputies to the National People's Congress and proposals from members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference last year.

The meeting studied measures to make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, and arranged work to forestall and defuse local debt risks further.

All suggestions and proposals handed to the State Council last year were handled, resulting in the introduction of over 2,000 policies and measures solving key issues in economic and social development, according to the meeting.

It called for solid work in the handling of suggestions from national lawmakers and proposals from national political advisors to facilitate China's high-quality development.

Stabilizing foreign investment should be a focus of this year's economic work, and efforts must be made to widen market access, level the playing field further, and smooth the flow of innovation factors, according to the meeting.

It stressed the need to shore up foreign investor confidence in developing businesses in China, and boost the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation.

Noting that local debt risks have been generally relieved, the meeting underscored efforts to boost policy support, address problems at their source, and establish a government debt management system that meets the needs of high-quality development.

Attention should be paid to the inconvenience of payment processes experienced by the country's elderly population and foreign visitors, it said, calling for coordination and greater resource input to facilitate the development of various payment methods and make them more complementary.

The meeting also approved a number of government documents, including guidelines on the further improvement of payment services and draft regulations on water conservancy, ecological conservation compensation and consumer rights protection.