BEIJING, March 28 -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday presided over a State Council executive meeting, which discussed measures to promote cross-border e-commerce and address payment arrears owed to enterprises.

The meeting also mulled measures to support the high-quality development of agricultural machinery equipment, and approved a set of guidelines to optimize the layout for port opening-up.

Highlighting cross-border e-commerce's key role in China's foreign trade, the meeting stressed the need to facilitate the next round of nationwide expansion of pilot zones dedicated to this sector. It noted that new regulatory approaches will be explored for clearance, taxation, foreign exchange and data flows.

Relevant departments must fully leverage the country's policies to stabilize foreign trade, helping businesses to explore new markets, strengthen brand building and develop on a more solid footing, according to the meeting.

During the meeting, an action plan to clear payment arrears owed to enterprises was reviewed and approved. The meeting emphasized the need for effective clearing of existing arrears and the prevention of new ones.

Regarding the development of agricultural machinery equipment, the meeting urged efforts to accelerate the research on signature products and achieve breakthroughs in core technologies.

It is important to facilitate market promotion for advanced agricultural machinery equipment, the meeting emphasized, also calling for faster upgrades of related products.

The meeting also discussed plans to open up the country's ports, urging relevant departments to expedite the construction of major hubs and regional gateway ports while further improving clearance convenience.