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BEIJING, Jan. 23-- China will target institutional barriers and deeply embedded interests in reform this year, said a statement from a Communist Party of China (CPC) reform leading group on Tuesday. Priority should be given to reforms in key areas including state-owned enterprises and state-owned assets, monopoly sectors, finance and taxation, property rights protection, rural revitalization, social security, opening up, and ecological conservation, according to the statement issued after the second meeting of the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the 19th CPC Central Committee. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the group, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech. Xi highlighted the importance of reform in 2018 and called for new breakthrough with strengthened innovation and concrete efforts. Reform should be more systematic, holistic and coordinated to seek material progress in fundamental areas, the statement said. It called for innovation at grassroots level and concrete measures against formalities. Leading officials should lead by example in reform and more efforts are required in research and supervision of reforms, according to the document. At the meeting, a plan on the group's work for this year and guidelines for a series of reform measures were approved. | 
