BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday the focus of high-quality economic development should be placed on transforming and upgrading industries.

Efforts should be made to strengthen and improve the real economy, Xi said as he joined a panel discussion with the deputies from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature.

Chinese economy has transitioned from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, warning that old ways of thinking might lead China almost nowhere and miss precious opportunities.

Local governments should build on their strengths and tap their potential to develop more emerging, high-end, high-value-added and capital-and-technology-intensive industries, putting in place a multi-dimension and multi-pillar modern industrial mix, Xi pointed out.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region should well develop the modern energy sector by following the latest global industrial trends. The energy sector's industrial chain should be extended and utilization rate improved, according to Xi.

He also called on the region to develop modern equipment manufacturing, modern services and other emerging sectors like new material, biomedicine, electronics and information, energy conservation, and environmental protection to lend fresh growth momentum.

The region should enhance infrastructure development and make full use of its geographical position for better resource allocation and production layout, Xi said.

Debt risks should be closely watched and effectively prevented, Xi added.

Xi called for more efforts on environmental protection. The management of mountain, water, forest, land, and lake should be planned as a whole. Important projects should be pushed forward elaborately, including the northwest-north-northeast China networks of shelterbelts.

The region should try its best to strike a balance between grass and livestock, strengthen desertification prevention and wetland conservation as well as controlling water, air, and soil pollution.

Xi called for more intensive and precise efforts to help villages with a large number of impoverished residents shake off poverty.

Efforts should focus on issues like industrial development, employment, infrastructure, public services, and healthcare. The medical security system should be improved to address poverty caused by illness, he said.

The president said the poverty alleviation fight should be complemented with China's rural vitalization strategy to improve living conditions of farmers and herdsmen.

Xi said actions should be taken against corruption and undesirable practices in poverty relief work, while demanding strict punishment for embezzlement of poverty relief funds, and elimination of practices like formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, and falsification.

Xi also called for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and promoting ethnic solidarity.

Efforts should be made to encourage all ethnic groups to watch out for and help each other and raise awareness of ethnic unity, so that all ethnic groups could be together "like seeds of a pomegranate," he said.

Core socialist values should set the tone of the common spiritual home of all ethnic groups, Xi said, adding that they should be nurtured among the people, particularly children and even in kindergartens.

He encouraged creativity in forms and means of promoting the core socialist values and learning from traditional culture of ethnic minorities.

The country should work to build a secure and stable northern border, he said.