The sixth session of the 11th Hangzhou People’s Congress commenced at Zhejiang People's Great Hall on Jan 24, 2011.

Wang Guoping, executive chairman of the Congress, chaired the session, which was attended by 484 representatives.

Shao Zhanwei, acting mayor of Hangzhou, made a report on the work of the municipal government. The report tackled four areas: reviewing the work in 2010; major tasks for 2011; the “Hangzhou 12th Five-Year (2011-2015) Plan for National Economic and Social Development (Draft)”; and building a service-oriented government.

Despite being faced with a challenging international and domestic environment brought about by the financial crisis, 2010 saw the Hangzhou municipal government accomplishing all its targets and tasks set out in the fifth session of the 11th Hangzhou People’s Congress.

2011, as the inaugural year of the 12th Five-Year Period (2011-2015), is crucial to promoting the structured and rationalized development of the city. As a part of this, eight tasks must be fully implemented: further expanding domestic demand; promoting industrial restructuring; pressing ahead with infrastructure construction; balancing regional development; strengthening environmental protection; advancing social construction; deepening reform and opening up; and improving people’s living conditions.

In building a service-oriented government, Shao raised 4 requests: promoting the transformation of the government functions to build a service-oriented government; strengthening the legal system to build a government ruled by law; improving transparency in government affairs; and improving the structure of local bureaucracies to build a clean government.

By Xie Fang & Yang Rongfang

Polished by Natalie Thomas