Li Xiaopeng, governor of Shanxi province, gives a government work report at the Fifth Session of the 12th Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, on Jan 27. [Photo by Fu Yupeng/www.news.cn]

The economy of North China's Shanxi province reached a new plateau during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

The observation was made by Li Xiaopeng, Shanxi governor, who made a report on government work at the Fifth Session of the 12th Shanxi Provincial People's Congress held in Taiyuan from Jan 27 to 31.

Shanxi's gross regional domestic product increased to 1,280 billion yuan （$194.6 billion）in 2015 from 918 billion in 2010, an average annual growth of 7.9 percent. Its general public budget revenue surged to 164 billion yuan from 96.9 billion yuan in 2010, an increase of 11.1 percent annually, Li said.

During that period, Shanxi put great effort into infrastructure construction and in urban and rural areas. It promoted industrial restructuring, saved energy, reduced emissions and implemented environmental protection. These steps together improved people's livelihood, accelerated reform and opening-up, and strengthened the rule of law, Li added.

The hard work paid off as the province made progress in social and economic development, transformation of development modes, and ecological development. The quality of people's living conditions vitally improved.

Li also identified the prime targets for the province's social and economic development over the next five years.

He said Shanxi will try its best to boost cultural development, continue environmental protection, and advance reform, opening-up and legal construction to generally improve people's lives.

The beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan, 2016, will see a focus on the following areas: supply-side structural reform; industrial transformation; smooth economic development; work related to farmers, rural areas, and agriculture; urbanization; culture; people's livelihoods; environmental protection; production safety; innovation; and government construction.