A key proposal made last year by national political advisers about
consolidating the gains in poverty alleviation in China's western region
over the next five years after eliminating extreme poverty in the
country will be incorporated into the country's 14th Five-Year Plan
(2021-25). The draft of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social
Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 will be
deliberated upon at the upcoming two sessions, the annual meetings of
China's top legislative and political advisory bodies. The event starts
next week. More than 2,000 members of the National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political
advisory body, will gather in Beijing to put forward proposals on major
political and social issues at the fourth session of the 13th National
Committee of the CPPCC, which opens on March 4. Last year, 4,115 proposals from national political advisers were
handled by State Council offices and departments, and many of them have
prompted the introduction of policy measures, according to official
data. Li Zhiyong, director of the committee for handling proposals of the
CPPCC National Committee, said last year's proposals focused on
promoting pandemic prevention and control, economic development and
poverty alleviation. During last year's two sessions, 17 members of the CPPCC National
Committee jointly proposed continued efforts to consolidate the
achievements in poverty relief in the country's western region after
eliminating extreme poverty, given the challenges brought by the
COVID-19 pandemic and the region's weak development foundation. Regional development Chairpersons of nine CPPCC provincial committees in China's western
region, including Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan and Guizhou
provinces, were among the 17 proposers, who suggested ensuring financial
input and strengthening infrastructure construction to improve
conditions for development in the region during the 14th Five-Year Plan
period. They also suggested financial support for medical care, education,
health, employment and social security and improving the ecological
compensation mechanism for environmental protection in the region. Listed as a key proposal last year, it was transferred to the State
Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and
other related departments for reference, according to the committee for
handling proposals. To follow up on the handling of the proposal, Wang Yang, chairman of
the 13th CPPCC National Committee, led a team to Gansu province in
August to conduct a survey with national political advisers experienced
in poverty relief work and government officials from poverty relief,
reform and development, agriculture and financial departments. The team visited all counties in the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture
of Gansu. They visited resettlement sites for people moving from
uninhabitable places, as well as factories and farms, and talked with
grassroots poverty relief officials and villagers, said Li. After the survey, they held a meeting in Gansu, in which national
political advisers and government officials exchanged ideas to promote
the better handling of the proposal. At the meeting, Wang, the chairman, said as 2020 was the point when
the country ended the battle against poverty and formulated the 14th
Five-Year Plan, conducting surveys and consultation on the proposal to
consolidate poverty relief work showed that consultation should be
conducted before and during decision-making. He called for targeted methods to ensure the stability, effectiveness
and sustainability of poverty relief mechanisms, resources and
policies, and innovation in ways of consolidating the achievements made
in poverty-relief work. Official letter In November, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty
Alleviation and Development replied to the proposers in an official
letter that their suggestions would be incorporated into plans and
policies to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation during
the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Li said the proposers and government officials reached many points of
consensus after discussion at the meeting and many of the suggestions
were adopted in the Party leadership's proposals for formulating the
14th Five-Year Plan. Last year, the CPPCC National Committee also set up a "fast channel"
for handling proposals related to pandemic prevention and control. Under
the mechanism, proposals could be sent to related departments in a
timely manner to ensure that the suggestions were as effective as
possible. Liu Liqun, deputy director of the general office of the National
Health and Family Planning Commission, said: "Their proposals have
played an important role in promoting the prevention and control of the
pandemic." Last year, the commission dealt with 1,103 proposals from national
political advisers, including 291 about epidemic prevention and control,
according to Liu.
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