Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, and Li Qiang gave a concluding speech.

Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi attended the meeting.

The Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from December 10 to 11. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the conference and delivered an important speech. Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the conference.

In his important speech, Xi Jinping summarized the economic work for 2025, analyzed the current economic situation, and laid out plans for the economic work in 2026. Li Qiang delivered a concluding speech, putting forward requirements for thoroughly implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech and doing a good job with next year’s economic tasks.

The meeting pointed out that this year has been an extraordinary one. Under the leadership of Comrade Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee with him at its core, the entire Party and all ethnic groups across the country have united and pressed forward bravely, steadfastly implementing the new development philosophy and promoting high-quality development. By coordinating both domestic and international contexts and adopting more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, we are on track to smoothly achieve our major economic and social development goals. China’s economy has continued to move forward under pressure, pursuing new directions and higher quality growth. The construction of a modern industrial system is steadily advancing, reform and opening-up are taking new steps, positive progress has been made in addressing risks in key areas, and efforts to safeguard people’s livelihoods have become even stronger. Over the past five years, we have effectively responded to various shocks and challenges, propelling the cause of the Party and the country to new and significant achievements. As the 14th Five-Year Plan draws to a close, we are off to a good start on the new journey toward the second centenary goal.

The meeting concluded that, through practical experience, we have gained new insights and understandings about how to effectively carry out economic work under the new circumstances: We must fully tap into economic potential; we must adhere to a dual approach of policy support and reform and innovation; we must strike a balance between “giving sufficient freedom” and “maintaining effective regulation”; we must closely integrate investment in physical assets with investment in human capital; and we must strengthen our internal capabilities through rigorous self-improvement in order to meet external challenges.

The meeting pointed out that China’s economic development still faces numerous longstanding issues and new challenges. The external environment continues to undergo profound changes, the domestic supply-demand imbalance remains prominent, and risks and hidden dangers in key areas are on the rise. Most of these problems are inherent in the process of development and transformation, and with sustained efforts, they can be addressed. The fundamental conditions and underlying trends supporting China’s economy for long-term healthy growth remain unchanged. We must maintain firm confidence, make good use of our strengths, and meet challenges head-on, continuously consolidating and expanding the momentum of steady and positive economic performance.

The meeting emphasized that to do a good job in next year’s economic work, we must take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guiding principle, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and the resolutions of successive plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, accelerate the establishment of a new development pattern, and focus on promoting high-quality development. We must adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, better coordinate domestic economic work with international economic and trade struggles, strike a better balance between development and security, implement more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, enhance the foresight, pertinence, and synergy of these policies, continuously expand domestic demand and optimize supply, improve new growth drivers tailored to local conditions, deepen the construction of a nationwide unified market, persistently prevent and resolve risks in key areas, and make concerted efforts to stabilize employment, businesses, markets, and expectations. This will help achieve a qualitative leap in economic performance and reasonable quantitative growth, maintain social harmony and stability, and ensure a solid start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

The meeting pointed out that, in terms of policy orientation for next year’s economic work, we must adhere to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and improving quality and efficiency. We should leverage the synergistic effects of both existing and new policies, intensify counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, and enhance the effectiveness of macroeconomic governance. We need to continue implementing a more proactive fiscal policy, maintaining an appropriate level of fiscal deficit, total debt, and overall expenditure. We should strengthen scientific fiscal management, optimize the structure of fiscal expenditures, and standardize tax incentives and fiscal subsidy policies. We must pay close attention to addressing local fiscal difficulties and firmly safeguarding the bottom line of “three guarantees” at the grassroots level. We should strictly enforce financial and economic discipline and insist on austerity measures within Party and government organs. We also need to continue implementing a moderately accommodative monetary policy, taking the promotion of stable economic growth and the reasonable recovery of prices as key considerations. We should flexibly and efficiently employ various policy tools such as reserve requirement ratio reductions and interest rate cuts, maintain ample liquidity, ensure smooth transmission of monetary policy, and guide financial institutions to step up support for key areas including expanding domestic demand, technological innovation, and small and micro enterprises. We should keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level. Finally, we must enhance the consistency and effectiveness of macroeconomic policy orientations by incorporating all types of economic and non-economic policies, as well as existing and new policies, into the assessment of macroeconomic policy consistency. We should also improve the mechanism for managing expectations and boost public confidence.

The meeting determined that next year’s economic work should focus on the following key tasks.

First, we must uphold domestic demand as the driving force and build a robust domestic market. We will deeply implement special initiatives to boost consumption and formulate and carry out plans to increase incomes for urban and rural residents. We will expand the supply of high-quality goods and services, optimize the implementation of “two new” policies, and remove unreasonable restrictions in the consumer sector to unlock the potential for service consumption. We will stabilize and reverse the downward trend in investment by appropriately increasing the scale of central budget investments, optimizing the implementation of “dual-track” projects, improving the management of special local government bonds, and continuing to leverage the role of new policy-based financial instruments to effectively stimulate private investment vitality. We will also promote urban renewal at a high quality.

Second, we must uphold innovation-driven development and accelerate the cultivation and strengthening of new growth drivers. We will formulate a comprehensive plan to promote the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent. We will build international centers for scientific and technological innovation in Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region), Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta region), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. We will strengthen the role of enterprises as the main innovators and improve the intellectual property protection system in emerging fields. We will develop an action plan to expand and upgrade the service sector. We will launch a new round of initiatives aimed at high-quality development of key industrial chains. We will deepen and broaden the application of “Artificial Intelligence Plus,” and refine the governance of artificial intelligence. We will also innovate financial services for science and technology.

Third, we must uphold reform and tackle tough challenges to enhance the momentum and vitality of high-quality development. We will formulate regulations for building a nationwide unified large market and intensify efforts to address “involutionary” competition. We will develop and implement further plans to deepen state-owned asset and enterprise reforms, and refine supporting laws and policies for the Promotion Law on the Private Economy. We will accelerate the clearance of overdue payments owed to enterprises. We will promote win-win development among platform enterprises, operators on platforms, and workers. We will expand pilot programs for market-oriented reforms of production factors. We will improve the local tax system. We will deeply advance the reduction in number and enhancement of quality of small- and medium-sized financial institutions, and continue to deepen comprehensive reforms of investment and financing in the capital market.

Fourth, we must uphold opening up to the outside world and promote win-win cooperation across multiple fields. We will steadily advance institutionalized opening-up, orderly expand autonomous opening-up in the service sector, optimize the spatial layout of free trade pilot zones, and make solid progress in building the Hainan Free Trade Port. We will promote integrated development of trade and investment, as well as integration between domestic and foreign trade. We will encourage and support service exports and actively develop digital trade and green trade. We will deepen reform of the mechanisms and systems for promoting foreign investment. We will improve the comprehensive overseas service system. We will promote high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative through joint efforts. We will also push for the negotiation and conclusion of more regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements.

Fifth, we must uphold coordinated development and promote the integration of urban and rural areas as well as regional synergy. We will advance in a coordinated manner urbanization centered on county towns and the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, thereby driving high-quality economic development at the county level. We will strictly safeguard the red line for arable land, maintain unwavering efforts in grain production, and ensure that prices of grain and other important agricultural products remain at reasonable levels. We will continue to consolidate and expand the achievements made in poverty alleviation, incorporating regular assistance into the overall implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and firmly guarding against large-scale relapse into poverty. We will support major economic provinces in taking on greater responsibilities. We will strengthen coordination and linkage among key metropolitan areas and deepen cooperation across administrative regions. We will enhance integrated planning for major bays and promote high-quality development of the marine economy.

Sixth, we must uphold the “dual carbon” goals and drive a comprehensive green transformation. We will deepen energy conservation and carbon reduction upgrades in key industries. We will formulate an outline for building a strong energy nation, accelerate the development of a new energy system, and expand the application of green electricity. We will strengthen the construction of the national carbon emissions trading market. We will implement comprehensive measures to manage solid waste, fight resolutely to protect our blue skies, clean waters, and pristine soils, and intensify efforts to tackle emerging pollutants. We will firmly advance the tough battle of the “Three-North” Project and carry out integrated and optimized management of nature reserves. We will enhance the meteorological monitoring, forecasting, and early warning systems, speed up addressing shortcomings in flood control, drainage, and disaster-resilience infrastructure in northern regions, and improve our capacity to respond to extreme weather events.

Seventh, we must uphold the principle that people’s livelihoods come first and strive to deliver more practical results for the masses. We will implement initiatives aimed at stabilizing employment, expanding job opportunities, and improving their quality, thereby ensuring stable employment for key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers. We will encourage and support flexible workers and those in new forms of employment to participate in employee social insurance. We will promote adjustments to the layout and structure of educational resources, increasing the supply of high school places and admissions to undergraduate programs at top universities. We will optimize centralized drug procurement and deepen reforms in medical insurance payment methods. We will launch a project to expand and enhance rehabilitation and nursing services, introduce a long-term care insurance system, and strengthen care and assistance for vulnerable groups. We will advocate a positive attitude toward marriage and childbearing, and make every effort to stabilize the number of newborns. We will also carry out solid work in areas such as safe production, disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, as well as food and drug safety.

Eighth, we must uphold the bottom line and proactively and steadily address risks in key areas. We will focus on stabilizing the real estate market by adopting city-specific policies to control new supply, reduce inventory, and optimize supply, while encouraging the acquisition of existing commercial housing for use primarily in affordable housing projects. We will deepen reform of the housing provident fund system and steadily promote the construction of “good-quality housing.” We will accelerate the establishment of a new model for real estate development. We will actively and orderly address local government debt risks, urging localities to take the initiative in debt resolution and strictly prohibiting any illegal or non-compliant addition of hidden debts. We will refine mechanisms for debt restructuring and refinancing, and adopt multiple measures to effectively mitigate the operational debt risks of local government financing platforms.

The meeting pointed out that we must consciously align our thinking and actions with the Party Central Committee’s scientific assessment of the current situation, grasp the general trend of China’s development, and firmly maintain confidence in our future development. We need to comprehensively implement next year’s overall requirements and policy orientations for economic work, adhere to a proactive and pragmatic goal-oriented approach, focus on addressing existing difficulties and challenges, achieve greater breakthroughs in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of our development, and boost the sense of gain among residents and enterprises. We should strengthen the synergy between reform and policies, and continue to drive positive momentum in economic performance and market expectations. We must identify the key priorities for next year’s economic work within the broader context, focusing on strengthening the domestic major circulation and expanding new space for boosting domestic demand; on developing new-quality productive forces and promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation; on unleashing the dynamism and vitality of high-quality development by unswervingly deepening reform and further opening up to the outside world; on continuously improving people’s well-being by intensifying efforts to safeguard and enhance their livelihoods; and on firmly upholding the safety bottom line and prudently managing risk resolution in key areas.

The meeting emphasized the need to strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over economic work and to forge a unified will and powerful synergy. We must uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, while each region and department, based on their specific conditions and local realities, fully implement the Party Central Committee’s guiding principles, tasks, and policies for next year’s economic work. We must establish and practice a correct view of political achievements, insisting on delivering tangible results for the people and achieving success through practical actions. We should consciously follow objective laws and continuously improve the differentiated assessment and evaluation system. In accordance with the “Suggestions” adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we should formulate the national and regional “15th Five-Year” plans as well as specialized plans, thereby promoting high-quality and sustainable development. We must create a favorable political environment, talent environment, business environment, and public opinion environment; intensify policy publicity and interpretation; and fully unleash positive social energy.

The meeting called for ensuring the supply of essential livelihood commodities at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, paying close attention to the production and living conditions of vulnerable groups, and firmly preventing and curbing the occurrence of serious and particularly major accidents.

The conference called on the entire Party and society to unite even more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, to work together with one heart and forge ahead with determination, and to strive vigorously to achieve next year’s economic and social development goals and tasks, ensuring a good start and solid footing for the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, leading comrades from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, State Councilors, the President of the Supreme People's Court, the Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, leading comrades from the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and members of the Central Military Commission attended the meeting.

Leading officials from the Party and government of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, cities under separate planning, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; relevant departments of central and state organs; related people's organizations; some financial institutions and enterprises under central administration; and leading officials from various departments of the Central Military Commission attended the meeting.