While fully affirming our achievements and strengthening confidence in success, we are keenly aware that our country's economic and social development still faces severe challenges that will confront us for some time to come.

Internationally, although the world economy is beginning to recover, there are still many uncertainties and instabilities in economic development. The foundation for economic recovery is still weak; risks in the financial sector have not been completely eliminated; unemployment rates in major developed economies remain high; trade protectionism is rising; and prices for major international commodities and exchange rates of major currencies might fluctuate more wildly.

Domestically, there are outstanding conflicts and problems as well.

First, the internal driving force of economic growth is still too weak. Consumer spending is unlikely to grow significantly; non-government investment is still not fulfilling its potential; and the effect of policies for stimulating consumption and investment might wear off. All of this makes it hard to further expand domestic demand. At the same time, external demand is unlikely to return to the level before the crisis any time soon due to sluggish international market demands and increasing trade frictions.

Second, we are under mounting pressure to transform the pattern of development and adjust the economic structure. Our enterprises are weak in independent innovation; our economic growth still relies heavily on high consumption of material resources; land, resources and the environment impose increasingly tight constraints on development; investment and consumption are disproportionate; and the problem of excess production capacity and haphazard and redundant development in some industries is serious.

Third, it is very difficult to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction. As the economic situation has turned for the better, energy-intensive and highly polluting industries have expanded their production significantly, some enterprises with operating difficulties have reduced their spending on upgrading energy-saving, emissions-reducing technologies and controlling pollution, and some localities have slackened their efforts to conserve energy and reduce emissions.

Fourth, the foundation for promoting the steady development of agriculture and continual increases in rural incomes is not solid. The weak infrastructure for agricultural water conservancy and the vulnerability to natural disasters and comparatively low profits of agriculture make it difficult to keep rural incomes growing.

Fifth, the employment situation is still grim. There are a large number of college graduates and other young people entering the job market; some disadvantaged groups experience increasing difficulties in finding employment; and the task of helping rural workers find non-agricultural jobs remains arduous.

Sixth, there is excessive growth in money and credit supplies and an irrational credit structure, both exerting a great pressure on liquidity management.

In addition, housing prices in some cities are rising too fast, and there are many conspicuous problems related to production safety, income distribution, social stability, and unbalanced development between urban and rural areas and among different regions.

We need to take all the above problems very seriously and adopt effective measures to solve them.