CHENGDU — Premier Li Keqiang made an inspection tour on Dec 23 in Chengdu, capital city of the southwestern province of Sichuan, stressing reform and innovation in tackling obstacles in economic development to enhance growth momentum and improve people's well-being.

When visiting a bus transfer service center that is under construction, Premier Li commended rural migrant workers for their contributions to the national construction.

As they are also bread-earners of their families, much must be done to ensure that rural workers are paid fully and in time, Premier Li said.

Employers who fail to honor labor contracts or delay the payment of workers' wages must be punished, he said.

After hearing reports on the development of a local free trade zone and the construction plan of a new area of Chengdu, Premier Li said advancing the reform and opening-up, upgrading the business environment and eliminating red tape are essential to unleashing the huge development potential of the western region.

He urged the Sichuan provincial government to turn the province into "a new highland" that is business-friendly and provides helpful services to the people.

Premier Li also stressed the need to foster a new economy and new growth engines by encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and promised to grant stronger support to small and medium-sized banks delivering direct services to small and micro-enterprises.

"The government will carry out further research into the use of multiple tools including the reserve requirement ratio, re-lending and rediscounts to cut real interest rates and financing costs to ease the financing difficulties of small and micro-businesses," he said.