Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang urged efforts to ensure safe and environment-friendly river shipping to facilitate regional economic expansion.

Measures should be taken to strictly control pollutant discharge into rivers and the establishment of emergency response system be stepped up for safe shipping services in rivers, Zhang said at an industry meeting in Wuhan, central Hubei Province.

In addition to the increase of central and local government input, private investment is also encouraged to join in construction of shipping facilities to improve navigation conditions in rivers, he said.