Wen makes sweeping vows to raise incomes, create new jobs and drive innovation but tough challenges lay ahead

Premier Wen Jiabao set an 8 percent growth target for this year and outlined measures to make that goal a reality in his government work report to the ongoing third session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, on Friday.

The wide-ranging report, which did not avoid discussing major problems in the country's economy while looking back on last year's merits, reflected the government's aims of exploring a sustainable growth model and its substantial efforts to eradicate a string of lingering effects and difficulties remaining from the global financial crisis.