BEIJING — Vice-Premier Han Zheng stressed the innovation-driven development of the country's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry on Sept 16.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a video address to the 2021 World New Energy Vehicle Congress.

NEVs have become the main direction of the transformation and development of the global automobile industry following a booming new round of global sci-tech and industrial revolution, Han said.

China's NEV industry has achieved notable progress, with both production and sales ranking first globally for six consecutive years, he said, adding that the country's technological level of NEVs' key components is also among the world's top.

Now at a stage of faster development, the industry faces both opportunities and challenges, Han said. He emphasized the importance of accelerating breakthroughs in core technologies, overcoming bottlenecks of fuel cell technology, moving faster in research and development, and the industrialization of key technologies such as automotive chips and operating systems.

Han underlined deepening integration of the automotive industry with emerging industries such as next-generation information and communications, new energy, new materials, artificial intelligence, and big data.

Efforts should also be made to speed up infrastructure construction, promote NEV consumption in the public and private sectors, and continue to expand the NEV application scale, Han said.

He underscored adhering to opening-up and cooperation, making full use of multilateral and bilateral international cooperation mechanisms, and actively getting involved in the global industrial and value chain systems.

The 2021 World New Energy Vehicle Congress kicked off on Sept 15 in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province, with the theme "comprehensively promoting marketization, accelerating cross-industry integration, jointly achieving carbon neutrality."