Ministers meet the media (II): Highlights

Ministers are taking questions from the media about the most pressing public issues. This is the second ministers' "passage interviews" of this year's two sessions.

Passage interviews got their name because they usually take place on walkways leading to the main hall of the Great Hall of the People before or after plenary meetings of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Here are the highlights:

Banks working to make financing easier for private companies: Guo Shuqing

China's financial sector is striving to solve the financing difficulties of private enterprises and reducing their costs, said Guo Shuqing, Party secretary of the People's Bank of China and chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"The efforts to step up support for private enterprises are closely related to the supply-side structural reform of the financial sector. We are making adjustments in terms of financial institution, market and product systems," said Guo during an interview on Tuesday.

China will continue taking new steps in financial opening-up this year, over which Sino-US trade talks are very likely to reach a consensus, Guo added.