President Xi Jinping stressed firm implementation of major reforms at the seventh meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform on March 19.

Xi, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the central committee for deepening overall reform, presided over and addressed the meeting.

Xi stressed efforts to fix the problem of formalities for formalities' sake at the grassroots level through reform, continue to strengthen people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, and unswervingly promote the implementation of major reform policies and measures.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the reform committee Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng also attended the meeting.

Participants agreed that to reach a new stage in the large-scale development of the western region, measures should be taken to focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness.

The meeting decided to prioritize ecological and environmental protection and stick to a new path featuring environmental protection and green growth in the western region development.

With joint development of the Belt and Road playing a leading role, the country should accelerate cross-border route and regional hub construction as well as improve the infrastructure network, for a high level of opening-up and economic development.

The meeting also stressed efforts to promote high-quality development and coordinate economic and social development of the population, resources and environment in the western region.

Stating that higher education and research institutes serve as important forces in the process of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and making China a country of innovators, the participants underlined efforts to streamline management procedures for science and technology projects and reform the system on approval and enforcement of major science and technology projects.

Participants agreed that efforts should be made to promote further integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy, deepen reform and innovation, optimize the institutional environment and boost the innovation vitality of enterprises.

The meeting also stressed strengthening and improving rural governance, calling for the establishment of a law-based modern rural social governance model under which Party committees exercise leadership, the government assumes responsibility, non-governmental actors provide assistance, and the public gets involved.

Efforts are needed to deepen the integration and sharing of public resource trading platforms, innovate the transaction supervision system, and improve the efficiency and fairness of public resource allocation.

The meeting stressed promoting reform in the operation mechanism of the oil and natural gas pipeline network. The country will set up oil and gas pipeline network companies that are state-owned capital controlled and with diversified investors. The country will also work to improve the oil and natural gas resource allocation efficiency and ensure a stable supply of resources.

The meeting stressed speeding up the building of a modern public legal service system that covers urban and rural areas with high efficiency, convenience, and equitable access.

As for reform on firefighting law enforcement, the meeting stressed efforts to develop new ways of regulation and supervision, strengthen management at the source, further streamline administration and delegate powers, and resolutely remove various unreasonable barriers.

The participants called for efforts to defuse prominent tensions and problems and push forward reform in a steady and orderly way as this year will face more challenges and risks in reform and development.

A number of documents were reviewed and adopted at the meeting.