Zhong Shan (R2), vice-minister of commerce, and Zhu Zhixin (L2), vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, attend the first weekly policy briefing of the State Council in Beijing, Jan 16, 2015. [Photo by Zou Hong/english.gov.cn]

Host: Guo Weimin, spokesman for the Information Office of the State Council

Ladies and gentleman, good morning. Welcome to today's briefing. Starting from this week, the Information Office of the State Council will hold a regular policy briefing every week to explain about major meetings, decisions and policies of the State Council, as well as China's economic and social development. The briefing aims to provide as much information as possible to journalists so that they better understand and report the policies and measures of the Chinese government, and the country's progress.

I have to say that the briefing is different from press conferences. You might have noticed that we have rearranged the seats to better communicate with journalists. We hope the briefing serves as a platform for us to fully communicate with each other. As usual, most information released from the briefing is available for reporting, but some parts may be off the record. Thank you for your cooperation.

Guo Weimin:

The regular policy briefing is still at an early stage. We invited only more than 30 media outlets today, and two-thirds of them are foreign media. We will make dynamic refinements in the following briefings and hope you cherish the opportunity and ensure your participation.

For the first policy briefing, I'm glad to tell you that we've invited Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhu Zhixin and Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan to provide details of last year's national economic and social development, imports and exports, and investment.

I hope you get enough useful information from the two senior officials.

We also have Ge Wei, deputy director of the Government Information Disclosure Office under the General Office of the State Council, joining us today.

Now, let me ask Vice-Minister Zhu Zhixin to make an introductory speech.