China expects the death toll caused by workplace accidents to fall by 35 percent per unit GDP by 2010, while seeking stable economic growth, according to draft guidelines of the five-year development blueprint.

The country will make greater efforts to promote workplace safety in the next five years, said the draft plan for national economic and social development in the 2006-2010 period, submitted to the country's legislature for examination and approval.

The plan said the country will strengthen the construction of the emergency response mechanism in the period.

According to the State Administration of Work Safety, workplace accidents caused an annual economic loss of 25 billion yuan (more than 3.1 billion U.S. dollars) in China, accounting for 2 percent of its annual GDP.

China's coal mines were notorious for a high record of fatal accidents. In 2005, the country reported four coal mine disasters with a death toll above 100. Nearly 6,000 miners were killed in accidents in the year.

China set a goal of average annual GDP growth at 7.5 percent in he 2006-2010 period.

The Fourth Session of the Tenth National's People' Congress (NPC) opened in Beijing on Sunday with the presence of more than 2,900 deputies.

Source: Xinhua