Xiao Jie, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, led a team to East China's Anhui province from Jan 20 to 23 to survey the drafting of the outline of the province's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the implementation of the economic and social development plan and the local budget for 2025 as well as the preparation of the plan and budgets for 2026.

The team heard briefings as well as opinions and suggestions from the provincial government, the municipal governments of Wuhu and Ma'anshan and relevant departments, and also conducted on-site surveys at enterprises and institutions.

The team noted that during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Anhui had earnestly implemented the decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), achieved successive increases in economic aggregate, steadily enhanced innovation momentum, continuously optimized industrial structure and effectively safeguarded people's livelihoods, making remarkable progress in economic and social development.

The team called for efforts to thoroughly study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and the plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee. They also urged Anhui to comprehensively implement the strategic considerations, target requirements and key tasks of the major decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee in the drafting, review, and implementation of the outline of the province's 15th Five-Year Plan and the preparation of the plan and budget for 2026, in order to make new and greater contributions to the overall national development while achieving its own high-quality development.

Xiao emphasized that Anhui should stay firmly aligned with its strategic positioning planned by the CPC Central Committee, foster new drivers and advantages for high-quality development and further enhance its technological innovation advantages in quantum information, fusion energy and and deep-space exploration.

He noted that it is necessary to strengthen regional strategic coordination in science and technology, innovation in policy alignment and sharing of resources and factors, promote the deep integration of sci-tech innovation with industrial innovation, advance the high-quality development of key industrial chains and the expansion and upgrading of the service sector and foster new drivers of economic growth. 

He also stressed the importance of adhering to systematic thinking, and coordinating efforts to expand domestic demand, safeguard people's livelihoods and prevent risks, with a focus on stabilizing employment, enterprises, the market and public expectations to continuously consolidate and expand the momentum of stable economic growth.

He emphasized that while adhering to the principle of putting people's livelihoods first, Anhui should make efforts to optimize the allocation of public resources and enhance the equity and accessibility of basic public services.

He also called for giving full play to the functions of the people's congresses in the review and approval of the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan as well as the plan and budget for 2026 in accordance with the law, as well as in the supervision of their implementation, while soliciting opinions and suggestions from various parties to enhance supervision effectiveness.