China's reform in rural areas, which has made remarkable achievement in about 30 years, serves the purpose of safeguarding farmers' material interest, democratic right and developing productivity.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made the remarks at a national conference on rural reform. The two-day conference closed on Saturday.

Annulling the agricultural tax across China this year marks a new stage of China's reform in rural area, and the Chinese government will continue to deepen institutional reform at township level and financial reform at county and township levels, he said.

China's central, provincial and city governments set aside more than 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) this year to make up for the fiscal income losses of grassroots governments in the tax reform aimed at easing the burden of farmers, according to official figures.

The comprehensive reform in rural area involves not only economic field, but also political, social and cultural aspects, he said.

"We should strive to basically complete the institutional reform at township level, the reform of rural compulsory education and the financial reform at county and township levels in five years or a bit longer," he said.

On the institutional reform at township level, Wen stressed the importance of altering the functions of government, streamlining staffs, reducing expenditure and improving administrative efficiency.

By the end of next year, the country will exempt primary and junior high school students in its rural areas from tuition and other education expenses, so as to make every rural kid to afford compulsory education, he said.

Rural teachers' salary must be included in governmental budget, and should be guaranteed, he said, prohibiting the re-emergence of random charging of rural students under various excuses.

Self-governance among villagers and expansion of grass-roots democracy are also important tasks in building new countryside, Wen said, stressing the importance of democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision in villages.

Source: Xinhua