A To-Do List

The Fortune Global Forum 2013 was headlined by a speech from Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. Highlights from the speech include six key points for ensuring China's steady progress in the future:

- Pursuing development as a path of strategic importance and continuing sustained and healthy economic development

As the largest developing economy in the world with a per-capita income ranking 84th on a global standing, China has no choice but to develop further in a way that is sustainable.

- Speeding up changes to the development model and working to optimize the economic structure

China's extensive development pattern is impracticable and difficult to sustain, so the country should seek long-term development through economic transition. The goal is to restructure the economy and facilitate this economic transition.

- Enforcing regional development and opening up China's central and western regions

One of China's major problems today is its regional income disparity and imbalanced development. The country's central and western regions boast vast territories, abundant resources and huge potential for new points of economic growth.

- Strengthening the protection of the environment to build a beautiful nation with blue skies, green land and clean water

The ecological environment is an indispensable part of human civilization and China's development. A sound environment on par with economic and social development demonstrates the real potential of a government and is a responsible solution for future generations. China will take target environmental pollution and seek a balanced development driven by science and resource conservation.

- Prioritizing the people's well-being and improving their material and cultural lives

Ensuring and improving people's quality of life is the fundamental purpose of China's development. As it develops China will work to increase individual income, deepen reform of the income distribution system, and adjust excessively high income so as to achieve common prosperity.

- Deepening reform and opening-up across the board

China will utilize individual and community-level initiatives to implement reforms, and forcefully pursue reform in a top-down manner.The country will form a unified market system with a set of fair, equal and open market rules so that companies with varying kinds of ownerships can compete fairly. Reforms to the administrative system, taxation, finance, and state-owned enterprises will be deepened to create more mature and standardized systems.