Premier Li promises to improve people's livelihood

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday said that his government will give a priority to the promotion of social fairness and the improvement of people's livelihood.

"We need to meet people's basic living needs, to provide the last resort for people to fall back on in case of special difficulty, and to promote social fairness," Li said at a press conference shortly after the conclusion of China's annual legislative session, calling them three major tasks for the government this year.

"Those topics related to people's livelihood presents priority on the government's work agenda," he said.

Li said the government will endeavor to make China's medical insurance and basic old insurance schemes "truly portable and transferrable" to further expand their coverage in urban and rural areas.

The government is going to explore the possibility of raising the basic pension benefits at a proper time, he said.

The premier urged all the government employees to put the special needs of the people, such as those who run into special difficulty because of serious illnesses or sudden disasters, on the top of their mind.

"The government needs to take more effective measures to ensure equal opportunities in finding jobs and to level the playing field for people who want to start their own business," Li said.

He also said that the government needs to pay particular attention to education to ensure fairness at the very starting point.

"This year we have set the target of raising the proportion of rural students from poor areas enrolled in key universities and colleges by over 10 percent," he said.

The premier also vowed to further improve the poorly built and low performing schools in China's poor areas.

"The government needs to create conditions to ensure that each and every individual has an equal shot at a better life through hard work and that fairness and justice are truly realized even at the most primary level of society," he said.