China's State Council, or cabinet, on Wednesday approved a program for the development of transgenic species to shore up the country's sustainable agricultural development.

The State Council agreed at an executive meeting that the program is of strategic importance in strengthening the country's capacity for agricultural technological innovation, increasing farmers' income and enhance the agriculture sector's global competitiveness.

The program aims to gain genes of great commercial value whose intellectual property rights belong to China, and develop high-quality, high-yield and pest-resistant genetically-modified new species, according to the meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The meeting urged relevant authorities to fully understand the importance and urgency of the program and waste no time implementing it.

The meeting also reviewed and approved a guideline on the deepening of economic system reforms in 2008.

"China has gone through 30 years of reform and opening-up and registered remarkable achievements in social and economic development. The country is at a crucial stage of building a moderately affluent society and the task of reform and development is arduous," said the meeting.

As China marked the 30th year of economic reforms, it should step up efforts for reform and opening-up, focus on system building and innovation and solve deep-seated problems through reforms, it said.

The meeting called on central and local authorities to map out their general reform plans and work for breakthroughs in key reforms that are significant to economic and social development.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2008)