BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed the importance of lowering logistics costs and promoting a new round of large-scale equipment renewals and trade-ins of consumer goods.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs (CCFEA), which he heads.

During the meeting, Xi emphasized that the acceleration of product upgrades is an important measure to promote high-quality development, and that the logistics sector serves as arteries and veins of the real economy.

Efforts must be made to effectively lower logistics costs across the board, enhance the core competitiveness of industries and improve the efficiency of economic operations, Xi said.

The meeting heard reports on these topics from relevant departments.

Li Qiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese premier and deputy director of the CCFEA, Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat and a member of the CCFEA, and Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese vice premier and a member of the CCFEA, attended the meeting.

Highlighting the roles of equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins in boosting investment and consumption, the meeting called for efforts to promote a continuous increase in the advanced production capacity proportion, recycle waste resources, and facilitate national economic circulation.

The country should promote technological upgrades at all types of industrial and service facilities, while encouraging trade-ins of automobiles, home appliances and other durables, according to the meeting.

China needs to accelerate the development of a logistics system that integrates both trade-ins and recycling, ensuring its development delivers greater benefits to consumers.

The meeting stressed that in order to serve the real economy and the people, the country must lower logistics costs by reducing expenses related to transport, warehousing and management.

Specifically, efforts must focus on improving the efficiency of arterial transport lines and developing a modern commercial circulation system.

It is also necessary to align logistics with emerging sectors such as the platform economy, the low-altitude economy and driverless vehicles, together with the development of business models for airports and ports, the meeting stressed.

(Source: Xinhua)