Northeast development a priority

Premier Li Keqiang called for greater strides in reform and opening-up to stimulate market vitality and to transform and upgrade economic structure in revitalizing the rust belt in Northeast China.

Li's remarks came as he presided over a State Council meeting on Thursday on revitalizing the country's traditional industrial bases.

He underscored the importance of transforming government functions and bettering the business environment, and urged government departments to offer more support to provinces in the Northeast in streamlining administration.

The tax cuts and fee reduction policies must be implemented in full, and the country will make the region a priority in special transfer payments to localities, he said.

The reform of State-owned enterprises must be moved forward, and more work must be done to expand the private sector, he said.

The premier also called for the region to bolster opening-up in its coastal and border areas so that it could take a leading role in cooperation with countries in Northeast Asia.

He noted that the new round of efforts to revitalize the Northeast has seen positive progress, and now is a crucial period for promoting economic transformation in the region.

It is also a period that will see key problems in the region, he said.

It is also important for the region to maintain stable economic performance, speed up the replacement of old growth engines with new ones and make proactive efforts to enable the inflow of industries transferred from other areas, he said. He added that the country will establish a tax revenue sharing mechanism for industries transferring between regions.

Li also highlighted the significance of ensuring stable employment and boosting employment in the Northeast, including measures to promote startups and innovation.

Another crucial step is to encourage more talent to stay in the region, and local authorities must create an enabling environment for starting and doing business in the Northeast, he said.

The three provinces in the Northeast－Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang－saw GDP growth of 5.7, 4.5 and 4.7 percent last year, which is below the national average of 6.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the three provinces have also seen a continuous outflow of working-age citizens. In Liaoning, the number of people aged between 16 and 59 was down by 492,000 last year, according to the Liaoning Bureau of Statistics.