Promote smooth flow of commodities, factors of production, Xi tells meeting

President Xi Jinping has stressed stepping up the building of a unified national market to promote the smooth flow of commodities and the factors of production－land, labor, capital and enterprises－in order to serve the new development paradigm.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark when presiding over a meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform on Friday. He is the director of the committee.

Fostering the new development paradigm requires a unified national market that is efficient, regulated, open and encourages fair competition, Xi said.

He urged the setting up of unified market rules and systems nationwide to help commodities and factors of production flow freely in broader areas.

The meeting adopted a series of documents including a proposal on accelerating the building of a unified national market, a guideline on further improving the efficiency of government oversight to advance high-quality development, and a proposal to promote the building of world-class universities and the fostering of first-class disciplines.

Participants in the meeting recognized the efforts to promote the nation's market-oriented reform since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, and pointed out that prominent problems remain in the country's existing market system.

Market rules and regulations are not fully unified across the country, factors of production are not flowing smoothly and local protectionist practices are often found, they said.

The meeting's participants highlighted the need to focus on the improvement of market rules and systems to strengthen the unification of policies and increase synergies in implementing them in order to form a unified market to pool resources, bolster growth, encourage innovation and promote competition.

They urged efforts to eliminate regulations and practices that hinder the development of a unified market and constitute barriers to fair competition.

Priority should be given to implementing major regional strategies and major regional integrated development strategies to allow them to play an exemplary and guiding role in building a unified national market, they added.

During the meeting, Xi stressed that the key to developing the socialist market system is properly dealing with the relationship between the government and the market.

The market plays a decisive role in the allocation of resources, Xi said, urging efforts to enhance the efficiency of government oversight to protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and the safety of people and property in line with the law.

Participants in the meeting called for strengthening oversight in key areas that immediately matter to the safety of people and property, public security and those areas with high potential social risks, and taking steps to prevent and mitigate major risks.

They called for upholding law-based oversight and formulating laws and regulations applicable to the oversight of key emerging fields and foreign-related sectors.

Presiding over the meeting, Xi also called for deepening institutional reforms in the development of world-class universities and first-class disciplines, and stressed fostering world-class talent to serve the nation's strategic requirements.

The meeting also reviewed and passed a guideline on strengthening the governance of the ethics of science and technology and a proposal on promoting the development of personal old-age pensions.

Noting that the ethics of science and technology is an overarching principle that must be followed in scientific activities, Xi stressed the importance of upholding the principle of enhancing the well-being of humanity, respecting the right to life, equity and justice, reasonably controlling risks, and maintaining openness and transparency to improve the governance system.

He also underlined the need to advance the development of personal old-age pensions in a way that suits national conditions.