Beijing- As Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng has said, as part of efforts to develop new quality productive forces, China will enhance reform and innovation to foster high-caliber talent and first-class innovators.

Innovation plays a core role in developing new quality productive forces, while education is the foundation and a leading force, Huai told a press conference which was held last week on the sidelines of the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC).

The minister answered the questions of journalists from China and abroad during the press conference which was held at the Media Center in Beijing.

According to Huai, the enrollment ratio for higher education in China had exceeded 60 percent by the end of last year, ranking first globally in terms of scale. As a new round of sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation evolves rapidly, high-caliber talent and first-class innovators are the most important strategic resources to enhance the country's core competitiveness.

"We will improve our capabilities for cultivating such talent to build China into an important global talent center and an innovation highland. This is also a key move for developing new quality productive forces and meeting the needs of realizing Chinese modernization," Huai said.

China’s ministers of education, human resources and social security, housing, and urban-rural development, as well as the director of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, answered the questions raised by the media regarding education, employment, social security, housing, healthcare, and disease control in a press conference last week.

China's Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng, and Chief of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration Wang Hesheng spoke on people's livelihood for the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), and answered the questions raised by domestic and foreign media.

It is worth mentioning that China International Press Communication Center (CIPCC) arranged a program for journalists from around the world and took them to the Beijing Media Center to take part in the mentioned press conference.

CIPCC, under the China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA), has initiated a program to build a platform for the media from countries around the world, especially developing countries, to observe China and study development in this country.

The program aimed at media exchange was halted in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

In each edition of the program, journalists from all around the world gather together to get familiar with modern China and exchange their experiences in the field of journalism.

In the 2024 edition of the program, scheduled to be held from late February until late June, over 100 journalists from more than 90 countries are participating.

Photo: Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng