Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan has urged coastal areas to boost their innovation ability and target economic growth through a rational development approach.

Zeng told officials in the coastal areas to work out a development blueprint in line with the nation's 11th Five-Year (2006-2010) Plan and bring their unique advantages into play.

He made the remarks during a recent inspection tour of Zhejiang Province in east China.

"Promoting industrial restructuring is vital to maintaining the country's sustained and stable economic development," Zeng said. "It is also a main way to change the country's growth pattern."

He called on Zhejiang Province to step up the development of commerce and trade, tourism and cultural services and improve infrastructure in communications, energy and telecommunications sectors.

He said Zhejiang should adopt measures to develop a batch of competitive enterprise groups and support the development of home-grown name brands.

The vice premier also called on Zhejiang and other coastal areas to master key technologies in order to upgrade the country's overall technological level.

A market-oriented technological innovation system should be established to realize the goal of promoting the country's economic growth via the advancement of science and technology and human resources instead of relying mainly on the input of capital and materials, he noted.

Finally, Zeng emphasized the importance of stepping up the building of an energy-saving and environment-friendly society, urging all sectors to better utilize resources and focus efforts on protecting the environment and ecological construction.

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