Looking ahead

Events and stories coming up in the next few days

Finance Ministry to hold annual work conference

The annual work conference of the Ministry of Finance will be held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday to conclude the work for this year and set the tone for 2018. The annual Central Economic Work Conference, which concluded on Wednesday, reiterated plans to strengthen management of local government debt, as one of the key measures to tackle fiscal and financial risks, and to ensure high-quality economic development that was set by the conference as the major theme of next year’s policies.

Transport Ministry to reveal rail and road progress

The Ministry of Transport is set to hold a media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday to introduce the latest progress in road and rail network construction. China has the world’s largest high-speed rail network with 22,000 kilometers of track in use, accounting for 60 percent of high-speed services worldwide. The total length of China’s high-speed railways will reach 38,000 km by 2025, and 45,000 km by 2030, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Forum to examine big data input in various sectors

The Big Data Forum 2017 will be held in Beijing on Tuesday to focus on the application of big data technology in a variety of sectors. Organized by the China Statistical Information Service Center, the annual event was launched in 2015. China plans to increase sales from its big-data sector to 1 trillion yuan ($152.6 billion) by 2020, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.