Overseas media have paid great attention to China's annual government work report, delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao to the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) Wednesday.

Many foreign media on Wednesday and Thursday released reports or commentaries on Wen's report, especially on its contents concerning China's economic development and the Chinese people's livelihood.

Latvia's News Today newspaper said the government work report did not dodge the problems in China's social and economic development, but it pointed out solutions and possible directions of further development.

The paper also reported that China's NPC would formulate policies and measures to realize a new mode of economic growth, including adopting stable financial policies, preserving natural resources, paying attention to environmental protection and building a harmonious society, to list just a few.

South Korean daily Choson Ilbo reported that the Chinese government has transferred its policy focus from speeding up the economic increase to helping the poor, removing the rich-poor gap and boosting educational equality.

Kyodo news agency said Wen's government work report shows the government has attached great emphasis on improving living standards for ordinary people.

The website of Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun said issues relating to the livelihood of ordinary people, including the environment, education, health and justice, are the focus of the report. Specifically, the Chinese government will make efforts to resolve environmental problems and provide low-rent houses, ensuring people's benefits and realizing social equality.

Commenting on the contents concerning the economy, the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper said the report shows that the Chinese government is sparing no efforts in keeping prices steady, while the increased fund in the new fiscal year's budget to support agriculture further reflects the Chinese government is giving priority to the interests of farmers.

The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper said the targeted 8-percent growth of China's gross domestic product this year indicates that China, besides trying hard to reduce resource consumption and protect the environment, is boosting domestic demands so as to transform the current economic structure, which heavily depends on investment and export.

The Yonhap news agency of South Korea said the adoption of tight monetary policies shows China will continue to carry out macroeconomic regulation.

South Korea's securities web sites have paid high attention to the planned establishment of a stock market for China's growth enterprises revealed in the report, saying China will build its own NASDAQ stock market.

South Korean newspaper Choson Ilbo said the fact that Premier Wen spent 15 minutes during his speech in elaborating his government's price polices shows the biggest task for the Chinese government now is to curb price hikes and inflation.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Dutch international service, focused attention on China's economic growth target of 8 percent.

The Dutch public television station reported the Chinese government would put price control as its top priority this year since inflation has reached an eleven-year high.

The Agence France-Presse focused more on the increase of medical, educational and welfare budgets mentioned in the government report, which will establish a sound safeguard system for urban and rural residents.

The Associated Press reported that Premier Wen said the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, scheduled to open on August 8, has great significance in facilitating China's socioeconomic development and will bring a tremendous sense of national pride to the Chinese people.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2008)