Shandong eyes environmental quality, 5 percent GDP growth in 2025

Shandong plans to achieve GDP growth of over 5 percent in 2025 while achieving mandatory targets for energy conservation, emission reduction and overall environmental quality improvement, provincial Governor Zhou Naixiang said on Monday.

The province also aims to create more than 1.1 million new jobs and a 3 percent increase in general public budget revenue in 2025, Zhou said.

Zhou made the remarks on Monday while presenting the province's government work report at the opening ceremony of the annual session of the 14th Shandong Provincial People's Congress.

The report is part of the province's two sessions, the annual meetings where lawmakers and political advisers discuss the previous year's socio-economic development achievements and outline plans for the year ahead. Shandong's two sessions began on Sunday and will conclude on Thursday.

Shandong achieved a regional GDP of 9.86 trillion yuan ($1.35 trillion), with a 5.7 percent growth over the previous year, surpassing the national average by 0.7 percentage points.