On the morning of January 14, the Third Session of the 16th Beijing Municipal People’s Congress opened at the Beijing Conference Center.
Li Xiuling, executive chairman of the presidium and executive chairman of the Congress, presided over the meeting. Yin Yong, Mayor of Beijing, delivered a report on the work of the government. Yin Li, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, and Wei Xiaodong, Chairman of the CPPCC Beijing Municipal Committee, attended the meeting.
Yin Yong delivers a report on the work of the government
Executive Chairs of the meeting, including Yin Li, Li Xiuling, Wei Xiaodong, Qi Jing, Zhang Jiandong, Pang Lijuan, Yan Aoshuang, Hou Junshu, Yu Jun, Li Yingjin, Tian Qingqi, Liu Zhendong, Wu Ming, Zhang Jinlan, Chen Ziyun, Hong Jialin, and Huang Shisong, were seated in the front row of the rostrum.
Liu Qi, former Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and former Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee; Guo Jinlong, former Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and former Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee; Du Deyin and Li Wei, former Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress; and Ouyang Changqiong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, were invited to attend the meeting.
Yin Yong’s report is divided into two parts: a review of the government’s work in 2024, and the overall requirements and major tasks for work in 2025.
Yin stated that 2024 was a pivotal year for achieving the objectives and tasks outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Over the past year, we have been working under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and the direct leadership of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee. We have also received support and supervision from the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress and its standing committee. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we have implemented the guiding principles established at the 20th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee. In alignment with General Secretary Xi’s directives on Beijing’s development, we have diligently executed the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and acted on the plans outlined by the State Council. As we pursue Beijing’s development as the national capital in the new era, we have concentrated on bolstering Beijing’s position as the “four centers” and improving our ability to provide the “four services”. We have incorporated the five key initiatives into the new development paradigm and ensured both development and security. The economy has been steady and improving. Social harmony and stability have been maintained. We have successfully fulfilled the tasks and targets set at the second session of the 16th Municipal People’s Congress and taken substantial strides toward leading the nation in basically achieving socialist modernization.
Yin stressed that, over the past year, we performed our duties with unwavering commitment to strengthen Beijing’s role as the national capital; we rose to challenges with great enterprise to achieve robust economic growth; we pursued reform for breakthroughs to drive high-quality development; we implemented targeted measures, bolstering areas of weakness while capitalizing on our strengths, to enhance the quality of life for our citizens. We accomplished the following work: we implemented a series of targeted measures to ensure stable growth, delivering sustained and upward momentum in the economy; we accelerated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development by progressively shaping a more interconnected growth framework; we leveraged technological innovation to cultivate new quality productive forces, stepping up efforts to modernize the industrial system; we further developed Beijing as the national cultural center, allowing the capital’s culture to flourish through heritage protection and preservation; we dedicated efforts to building a beautiful Beijing, steadily improving the environment; we implemented concrete and well-considered measures to bring greater benefits to our people; we ensured both development and security, providing a more robust safeguard for the capital. Despite these hard-won achievements, we must be acutely aware of the difficulties and challenges that confront us, and redouble our efforts to make improvements to live up to the public’s expectations.
Yin highlighted that this year marks the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan and is critical for laying solid foundations for the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period. At this important juncture, it is vital for the government to fulfill its tasks effectively. To achieve this, we must: follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; implement the guiding principles from the 20th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee; act on the guidelines of the Central Economic Work Conference; adhere to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions on Beijing’s development; uphold the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring steady performance, and implement the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively; pursue the development of Beijing as the capital in the new era;, strengthen Beijing’s position as the “four centers”, and enlarge our capacity to deliver “four services”; advance cultural, technological, and green development; promote coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; incorporate the five key initiatives into the new development paradigm and advance high-quality development through solid actions; expand all-round reform and open wider at a high standard; boost domestic demand, stabilize expectations, and unleash vitality; prevent and defuse risks in key areas and external shocks, and ensure both development and security; sustain economic recovery and growth, continue to improve people’s lives, and maintain social harmony and stability; advance comprehensive and rigorous self-governance of the Party; contribute to building China into a great country and advancing national rejuvenation through our work in the capital.
Yin stated that the main targets for economic and social development this year are as follows: grow GRP by around 5%, while striving for even better results; increase the general public budget revenue by around 4%; maintain the surveyed urban unemployment rate below 5%; keep CPI increase at around 2%; ensure personal income growth align with economic growth; meet national standards for eco-environment, energy, and water indicators.
Yin stated that in 2025, we must prioritize our efforts as follows: leveraging economic structural reform to drive new breakthroughs in key sectors and links; further implementing the Master Plan of Development for Beijing (2016-2035) and pursuing coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; expanding domestic demand on all fronts to form a virtuous cycle of consumption and investment; integrating the development of education, science and technology, and talent to build Beijing into a higher-standard international innovation center; developing high-end, precision, and cutting-edge industries to create key drivers of new quality productive forces; boosting cultural development to enhance the capital’s exemplary role as the national cultural center; integrating urban-rural development through new urbanization and rural revitalization; modernizing super-large city governance for a people-centric city; continuing to improve people’s wellbeing to meet their aspirations for a better life; strengthening environmental protection as we strive for new progress in building the pilot zone for the Beautiful China Initiative; making Beijing safer to ensure social harmony and stability. To this end, we must diligently raise the government’s capabilities to provide more effective governance.
The meeting also reviewed other reports from the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, including the report on the implementation of the 2024 plan for national economic and social development and on the 2025 draft plan for national economic and social development, and the report on the execution of the budgets for 2024 and on the draft budgets for 2025.
Also present as nonvoting delegates were all members attending the Third Session of the 14th CPPCC Beijing Municipal Committee; some deputies of the Beijing delegation to the 14th National People’s Congress; officials from the Beijing Municipal Supervisory Commission, departments of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, the intermediate people’s courts of Beijing, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, the Beijing Financial Court, the Beijing Internet Court, and branches of the People’s Procuratorate of Beijing Municipality, along with officials from relevant municipal government offices.
(Written by Qi Mengzhu and Fan Junsheng)
