China's elderly care service vouchers for seniors with moderate to severe disabilities have benefited 892,000 people, with redemptions totaling 1.72 billion yuan (around 249 million U.S. dollars) so far this year, an official said on Saturday.
Efforts have been made to boost the country's elderly care services and improve the well-being of older people, Civil Affairs Minister Lu Zhiyuan told a press conference on people's livelihood on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress.
"Focusing on pressing difficulties concerning the seniors the most, we boosted village or community supported at-home elderly-care services, we develop canteens for seniors across the country, nearly 80,000 meal service stations have been built, serving over 3 million older people every day, meeting their needs for freshly cooked meals. We set up home-care beds, with the total number reaching 495,000 to bring professional care to the bedside. We also have completed age-friendly home renovations for 2.24 million households with seniors with special difficulties," he said. "Since the start of this year, we have been granting elderly care service vouchers to moderate to severely functionally paralyzed seniors. Till now, 1.72 billion yuan of vouchers have been redeemed, benefiting 892,000 older people,"he said.
China's elderly care service vouchers benefit 892,000 people
The China International Import Expo (CIIE) offers foreign companies a key trade platform to showcase their products and expand sales in China, a business leader has said, noting that many Portuguese companies are keen to participate again this year. In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the chamber promotes the CIIE widely in Portugal through its online platforms and at physical events held every year. "I'm aware that many Portuguese companies will participate. We as China-Portugal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we promote widely in Portugal through all our online platforms. We also organize every year, we try to organize or at least participate in a physical event in Portugal to promote China International Import Fair. And the AICEP, which is the Portuguese investment agency, every year they organize a group of Portuguese companies and they themselves are present there with their own booth," Mendia said.
"I believe this year will not be an exception, and so they will participate again. It's a quite relevant participation. We understand that this has a lot of interest for our companies, because it's a trade exhibition that is for foreign entities to showcase their products and make sales in China. So it's precisely what we need to do more, so it's perfect. And we are very happy that China is still continuing to organize and put so much importance in this exhibition in Shanghai," he said.
The ninth CIIE will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. Launched in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE was designed to expand China's opening-up and turn its vast market into a shared opportunity for the world.
China's import expo offers foreign companies key platform to showcase products: chamber head
