China will boost its capacity for environmental protection and sustainable development while building a relatively comfortable society, Premier Zhu Rongji said in Beijing yesterday.

He said China will choose a recycling economy as the model for future development, based on the most efficient use of resources and the most effective protection of the environment.

Zhu made the remarks while meeting with major Chinese and foreign members of the China Council for International Co-operation on the Environment and Development (CCICED), a senior advisory body that raises proposals on key environmental and development issues with the Chinese Government.

He assured CCICED members that China will regard environmental protection as a permanent undertaking and firmly implement the strategy for sustainable development.

Leonard Good, president of the Canadian International Development Agency and CCICED vice-chairman, said China's achievements in environmental protection in recent years have been widely recognized.

Other CCICED members also discussed with Zhu China's policies on environmental protection and future sustainable development tasks.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2002)