Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday that China would take firm actions to protect environment, increase the efficiency of energy resources, develop the renewable resources and reduce greenhouse gas emission.

China would like to work with the other nations of the world to deal with the global environmental issue," he said during a meeting with the foreign participants of the annual meeting of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).

Wen said the theme of the meeting, innovation and environment-friendly society, was coincided with China's development strategy.

The Chinese government would give prominence to building a resource-conserving, environment-friendly society in its strategy of industrialization and modernization, he said.

Wen said China had done a lot to fulfill this task and achieved good results.

China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 2.78 percent in the first half of this year, and the emissions of both sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand dropped, he added.

He hoped the CCICED would play its role in promoting China's sustainable development.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)