Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, speaks during the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing, capital of China. The conference was held in Beijing from Dec. 19 to 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The annual Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, as Chinese leaders charted course for the economy in 2019, a key year for the country to achieve its goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.

In a speech at the conference, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, reviewed the country's economic work in 2018, analyzed the current economic situation and arranged the economic work in 2019.

China has effectively coped with profound changes in the external environment this year, risen to challenges with solid work, accomplished the goals of macro-regulation relatively well and delivered a good start in the three tough battles against major risks, poverty and pollution, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the country has deepened the supply-side structural reform, pushed forward reform and opening-up with greater efforts, properly dealt with the Sino-U.S. economic and trade frictions, improved people's well-being, and maintained sustained and healthy economic development as well as overall social stability.

The country has "made new steps towards finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects," the statement said.

"The achievements we've made have not come easily," it said.

Over the past year, the leadership has gained a deeper understanding about economic work under new circumstances, according to the statement.

It said the country must uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee; assess current circumstances from a long-term perspective and have a clear vision about the country's long-term promising development prospects; make macro-regulation precisely, actively fine-tune policies and enhance policy coordination; timely respond to concerns of the society and guide market expectations in a targeted manner; give full play to the initiative of all parties to form synergy.

"While fully acknowledging the achievements, we must see that there are new and worrisome developments amid generally steady economic operation, the external environment is complicated and severe, and the economy faces downward pressure," the statement said.

However, it described the problems as part of development, noting that China is still and will be in an important period of strategic opportunity for development for a long time to come.