8. We will improve people's lives and promote social harmony.
1) We will continue to follow a vigorous employment policy. We will conscientiously implement the Employment Promotion Law and the Law on Labor Contracts and work out supporting measures. We will set up a sound employment service system that covers both urban and rural areas, provide better employment service for college graduates and demobilized soldiers, and put greater effort into helping people in zero-employment households and people who have difficulty finding employment find jobs. We will strengthen vocational training to produce more highly skilled personnel. We will improve the service system for business start-ups and provide a better environment for the establishment and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. We will aggressively combat all types of illegal hiring practices in accordance with the law.
2) We will accelerate improvement of the social safety net. We will expand the basic old-age insurance system to cover more urban workers, expand the trials to fully fund personal retirement accounts for enterprise employees and raise the level of unified management. We will explore ways to reform the system of basic old-age insurance for public service institutions. We will work out a set of unified national rules for transferring social security accounts from one region to another as well as measures for providing old-age insurance suitable for rural migrant workers. We will encourage local governments to carry out trials of old-age insurance system in rural areas. We will speed up establishment of a system for assisting both urban and rural residents in meeting expenses for medical care, expand the basic medical insurance system to cover more urban workers and extend trials of a basic medical insurance scheme aimed at non-working urban residents to 50% or more of the country's cities at the prefecture level. We will fully implement the new type of rural cooperative medical care system and within two years, increase the standard for financing its operation from 50 yuan to 100 yuan per person per annum, with central and local government contributions to be raised from 40 yuan 80 yuan per person. We will continue to experiment with expanding the scope of expenditures drawn from unemployment insurance funds in the eastern region. We will improve the basic cost of living allowance system for urban and rural residents by instituting dynamic management of the system and organizing beneficiaries by type in cities and including all eligible poor rural residents in the system. We will increase public assistance efforts and encourage the development of charity programs.
3) We will set up a sound system for ensuring that people have adequate housing. We will improve housing plans and policies to ensure an appropriate supply of land and ensure that land is used and managed efficiently, focusing on development of housing for low- and middle-income families. We will improve the system of low-rent housing by providing more funding and expanding housing supply. We will improve development and management of affordable housing and increase the supply of small and medium-sized ordinary condominiums and housing with price ceilings. We will vigorously promote development of environmentally friendly residential buildings that conserve land and energy. We will continue to strengthen and improve regulation of the real estate market. We will use a combination of tax, credit and land policies and improve the matching fund system for housing to increase effective supply in response to market demand and curb irrational demand. We will strengthen oversight of housing prices and the real estate market and work to prevent overheating in housing prices by prosecuting to the full extent of the law persons who hoard land or housing, place false advertisements, withhold completed housing from the market and engage in price gouging and other speculative activities. We will improve planning and management of rural housing development.
4) We will make an all-out effort to rebuild the areas hit by the recent disastrous snow and ice storms in the south. Affected infrastructure facilities such as electricity, roads, railways, communications and urban public utilities, will be repaired as soon as possible, with the focus on restoring and rebuilding power grids, and the quality and safety of the rebuilding projects will be ensured. We will carefully implement all policy measures to bring relief to the people affected by the disaster, combining efforts to reduce poverty through development. We need to find out the number of houses and apartment buildings destroyed in the disaster and help rebuild them. We will help afflicted farmers resume production, do everything possible to ensure adequate supply of seeds, seedlings and agricultural supplies and grant appropriate subsidies to farmers in the worst affected areas. We will make the proper arrangements to help disaster victims get back on their feet as soon as possible. Monitoring and supervision will be stepped up to prevent any possible secondary disasters.
5) We will improve social administration. We need to carefully review our experience in responding to the recent disaster resulting from snow and ice storms in the south. We will set up a sound emergency response system and improve our ability to handle emergencies.
We will step up exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in economic and trade affairs, science and technology, education, culture, health and sports. We will work to expand cross-Straits economic and cultural exchanges and promote resumption of direct links for mail, transport and trade between the two sides. We will implement and improve the policies and measures designed to benefit our Taiwan compatriots and support economic development on the west shore of the Straits in Fujian province and in other areas where Taiwan investment is concentrated.
Fellow Deputies,
Successfully carrying out the tasks for economic and social development in 2008 will be an arduous but important task. Let us unite closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary, hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, follow the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents, and thoroughly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development. Let us forge ahead full of confidence and high in spirit with a pioneering attitude and work diligently to achieve the targets for economic and social development and promote sound and rapid development!