BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over the sixth meeting of the Central Commission for Deepening Overall Reform on the morning of Aug 29 and delivered an important speech. He is also director of the commission. Xi emphasized that further deepening reform comprehensively is being advanced based on the foundation of deepening reform across the board since the new era, and that it has a solid foundation and favorable conditions. It is necessary to make good use of the existing reform achievements and important experience, to emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts, keep pace with the times, take a realistic and pragmatic approach, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties to ensure the successful implementation of the reform tasks.

Li Qiang, Wang Huning, and Cai Qi attended the meeting. They are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy directors of the Central Commission for Deepening Overall Reform.

The meeting reviewed and adopted a plan for central Party and state departments to implement major reform measures set in a key resolution adopted last month at the third plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and a guideline on implementing the strategy for upgrading pilot free trade zones.

The meeting underscored that the third plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee made arrangements for further deepening reform comprehensively, and put forward over 300 major reform measures. It is imperative to uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee over reform and strictly enforce the system for requesting instructions and reporting. The strategic priorities and key directions of reform must be accurately grasped, and the order, pace, and timing of reform measures must be reasonably arranged. Reform should be more closely integrated with economic and social development and the implementation of landmark reform measures should be accelerated. Efforts should be made to strengthen the systematic integration of reforms, enhance the consistency of reform policy orientations, actively assess the impact of reform on economic and social development, and forge synergy between reform and development.

The implementation mechanism of reform should be optimized and coordination on major issues should be strengthened. All reform-initiating departments and participating departments should dare to shoulder responsibility, take solid steps, strengthen research and demonstration of major reforms, and formulate reform organization and implementation plans. Efforts should be made to strengthen the supervision, evaluation, and inspection of reform, and actual results and the satisfaction of the people should be the yardstick of reform, according to the meeting.

The meeting highlighted the milestone and pioneering institutional innovations introduced by the country's 22 pilot free trade zones since the 18th CPC National Congress held in 2012, which play an effective role in serving as a comprehensive pilot platform for reform and opening up. The purpose to implement the plan of the third plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the strategy for upgrading pilot free trade zones is to carry out exploration in a wider range and at a deeper level, and realize the comprehensive upgrade of institutional opening up of pilot free trade zones, and the effectiveness of systematic reform as well as the quality of an open economy.

It's necessary to adhere to the high-quality opening up as the guide and institutional innovation as the core while encouraging testing pilot programs, conducting pioneering and integrated exploration, promoting innovative development of the entire industrial chain, enhancing the overall competitiveness of foreign trade, promoting investment liberalization and facilitation, and improving the policy system that focuses on trade, investment, capital flow, transportation, free and convenient personnel exchanges, and secure and orderly flow of data. It is necessary to coordinate development and security, steadily expand opening up by making institutional improvement in rules, regulations, management and standards, and improve risk prevention and control capabilities.

Members of the Central Commission for Deepening Overall Reform and leading officials from central Party and state departments attended the meeting.