BEIJING — Vice-Premier Han Zheng on July 9 called for solid efforts to smoothly advance institutional reform of the State Council.

Han, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting on advancing the reform.

The fundamental aim of the reform is to transform government functions, improve government efficiency, and reduce government’s direct intervention on market activities, said Han.

He said ideological and political work should be carried out throughout the reform, calling on officials to support and advance the reform with action and make contributions to institutional reform and economic and social development.

Han also stressed efforts in taxation collection reform to build an efficient and unified system to manage tax collection.