A meeting presided over by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed the principal role of enterprises in innovation and reaffirmed the government's support for the private sector.

The first meeting of the commission for deepening overall reform of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at the meeting.

Greater support for enterprises' innovation

The meeting called for strengthening the principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation, which it said is a crucial move to deepen structural scientific and technological reform and achieve high-standard self-reliance and strength in science and technology.

It noted that there should be greater support for enterprises' innovation with a focus on national strategies and major demands of industrial development.

These points underpinned what was proposed in Xi's report to the 19th CPC National Congress, which called for developing a market-oriented system for technological innovation where enterprises are the main players and synergy is created through the joint efforts of enterprises, universities and research institutes.

In his report to the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi has once again stressed the principal position of innovation in China's modernization drive.

Deepening reform of state-owned enterprises

Friday's meeting also stressed deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises to build a management system of the state-owned economy with top-level coordination, well-defined rights and obligations, efficient operation and effective supervision.

China's reform of state-owned enterprises has entered a brand new phase after the CPC Central Committee completed a series of major tasks since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, including the recent conclusion of the three-year project.

A document approved by the meeting has established the historical mission and functional position of the state-owned economy in the new era, clarifying the upcoming objectives for the reform of state-owned enterprises.

Energizing the private economy

Noting that the support for the private economy is a consistent principle of the CPC Central Committee, the meeting pledged to optimize the private sector's development environment, remove the institutional barriers that restrict the fair participation of private enterprises in the market competition, and guide private enterprises to find their right positioning in high-quality development through their own reform and development, compliance operation, transformation and upgrading.

It also approved documents on strengthening enterprises' principal position in sci-tech innovation, as well as working rules for the central commission for deepening overall reform and key tasks of the commission in 2023.

This was not the first time that private enterprises and high-quality development were encouraged. During the Two Sessions, when Xi was visiting members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, he motivated private entrepreneurs to "be bold and shake off the baggage."