Development must be the priority, Premier Li Keqiang told local officials on March 6, acknowledging China still has a long way to go on the path to modernization, which will take “a dozen generations”.

The Premier, who is a deputy of the Shandong delegation to the National People’s Congress, joined a panel discussion to discuss the Government Work Report he delivered to the opening of the third session of the National People’s Congress on March 5.

Li proposed in the report to lower the economic growth target this year to “approximately 7 percent”, scaling back expectations in the face of “formidable” difficulties for the world’s second-largest economy following its decades-long boom.

After listening to suggestions from deputies, Li compared the unbalanced development between the eastern and inland western part of the province as a microcosm of the economy.

Shandong ranked third among provincial areas in terms of economic expansion in 2014 with 8.7 percent growth, an “outstanding achievement”, the Premier said.

“Although the eastern part of the Shandong peninsula is prosperous, residents in western Shandong, especially those along the Yellow River, are still living in difficult conditions,” he said.

“Reform, as well as the diligence of the Chinese people, is the key to shoring up the Chinese economy. The great resilience and potential of the Chinese economy is evident in the increasing number of new jobs being created against a backdrop of declining economic growth,” Li said.

Premier Li Keqiang talks with NPC deputies from Shandong province in Beijing on March 6.[Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]

Premier Li Keqiang talks with NPC deputies from Shandong province in Beijing on March 6.[Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]

Yang Yixin, major of Dezhou city in Shandong shows the Premier photos of the city in Beijing on March 6. [Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]

[Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]

[Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]

[Photo by Wu Zhiyi/China Daily]