The annual session of the NPC will approve decisions made by China's communist leaders [AFP]

China's premier has outlined the government's key priorities for the year ahead in an address to the country's parliament, the National People's Congress.

The following are some key quotes from Wen Jiabao's speech:

On the year ahead

"This is a crucial year for continuing to deal with the global financial crisis, maintaining steady and rapid economic development and accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development."

On development

Wen's speech emphasised the need to bridge the gap between China's rich and poor [AFP]

"Everything we do, we do to ensure that the people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious."

"We are emphasising sound development and we need to guide all sectors to focus on transforming the pattern of economic development and restructuring the economy."

On recovery from the global downturn

"We must not interpret the economic turnaround as a fundamental improvement in the economic situation."

On welfare

"We will not only make the pie of social wealth bigger by developing the economy, but also distribute it well on the basis of a rational income distribution system."

"We will move faster to build a better social safety net to provide basic security to people and free them from worries."

On rural priorities

"We will continue to give preference to agriculture, farmers and rural areas, and to improving people's well-being and developing social programmes."
 
On the economy

"We must… formulate a pattern in which domestic demand and foreign demand drive economic growth in concert... We will continue to implement and improve all of our policies and measures for encouraging consumption."

On housing

"We will resolutely curb the precipitous rise of housing prices in some cities and satisfy people's basic need for housing."

On currency reform

"We will continue to improve the mechanism for setting the renminbi exchange rate and keep it basically stable at an appropriate and balanced level."

On Taiwan

"Last year, relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait made important progress from a historic new starting point, and a positive trend toward peaceful development emerged."

On ethnic relations

"The Chinese nation's life, strength and hopes lie in promoting solidarity and achieving common progress of our ethnic groups."

"We need to take a clear-cut stand against attempts to split the nation, safeguard national unity, and get ethnic minorities and the people of all ethnic groups who live in ethnic minority areas to feel the warmth of the motherland as one large family."