Measures should be taken to improve services for China's senior citizens, Vice-premier Li Lanqing said at a national conference in Beijing Thursday.
Li, also director of the National Work Committee on Aging (NWCA), said at the fifth session of the NWCA that services for senior citizens should be improved since China is building a more affluent society.
Serving the elderly is an important task of the Communist Party of China and the government and it should be included in the plans for building a well-off society in various localities, he said.
Li said that since the NWCA was established in 1999, China has made continuous progress in improving services for its senior citizens. So far, a national service network for the elderly has taken shape and much experience has been accumulated in this field.
In the future, work in this regard will be strengthened at the grassroots level and more concrete good deeds for the elderly will be done, said Li.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2003)
