3 major tasks called key to sustainable economy

The central leadership's pledge to achieve substantial progress next year in prevention of major risks, targeted poverty alleviation and pollution control, which may also top the agenda of the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference, will make the world's second-largest economy more balanced and sustainable, economists said.

China is expected to convene the tone-setting economic conference soon - reportedly next week. Economists at home and abroad said it may reaffirm the decisions made at the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee meeting on Dec 8, such as pushing the three major tasks of preventing major risks, reducing poverty in a targeted manner and controlling pollution.

"These three ambitious and interrelated goals are well directed toward reducing risks and making growth more sustainable in economic, environmental and social terms," said Eswar Prasad, the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University in New York.