BEIJING, Sept. 24(Xinhuanet)-- The 1st International Forum on Social Security convened here on Saturday. More than 200 scholars from China, Japan and Republic of Korea attended the forum.

Han Qide, vice chairman of the China's National People's Congress(NPC) Standing Committee, sent a congratulatory message to the forum, saying that China has initiated reform on social security system for more than 20 years and has achieved remarkable achievements in this field. The country is now probing a new social security model to meet the demands of social development and socialist market economy.

He said the improvement of the medical security system should be taken as the work priority. Currently, the medical insurance system in urban areas only covered some citizens, while many citizens could not afford the medicine fee. To offer adequate medical services to every citizen has turned to be one of the urgent tasks for the country's economic and social development.

Zhang Meiying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC), made akeynote speech at the opening ceremony. She said the fact that a majority of Chinese did not enjoy adequate social security demonstrated that China's social security system lagged far behindthe economic and social development and China had much work to do to fulfill the goal of letting every citizen enjoy social securityin the first two decades of the new century.

She said the government should build up a unified social aid system for both urban citizens and rural residents so as to let them equally enjoy social welfare. Efforts should also be made to ensure the aged, the disabled, women and children enjoy more social welfare.

More than 200 scholars will discuss such topics as endowment insurance, medical security and social security at the two-day forum, which was sponsored by the Social Security Research Center of China under the Renmin University of China. Enditem