Yang Peizhong, owner of Xinyi Family Farm, picks grapes in Xiantao, Central China's Hubei province, on July 7, 2017. (YANG YANG / CHINA DAILY)

President Xi Jinping has urged the country's supply and marketing cooperatives to stay true to their fundamental purpose of serving agriculture, rural areas and rural people, continue deepening comprehensive reforms and make contributions to the advancement of rural revitalization.

The combined sales volume of the cooperatives stood at 4.6 trillion yuan (US$673.9 billion) last year with retail sales of consumer goods reaching 1.59 trillion yuan, according to the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction on the sector's work.

China's supply and marketing cooperatives are a key platform for the distribution of agricultural products in rural areas. The combined sales volume of the cooperatives stood at 4.6 trillion yuan (US$673.9 billion) last year with retail sales of consumer goods reaching 1.59 trillion yuan, according to the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

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Xi said that the cooperatives, as an important force for boosting agricultural and rural development, have contributed greatly to promoting the development of modern agriculture, increasing farmers' incomes and boosting integrated urban-rural development.

Party committees and governments at all levels should keep improving the work of cooperatives and give priority to advancing the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and consolidating the foundation of the Party's governance in rural areas, Xi said.

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He also urged the cooperatives to improve systems and mechanisms, expand their service areas, and strengthen efforts to become a comprehensive platform for serving rural production and livelihoods, as well as a bridge for the Party and the government to connect with farmers.

Xi's instruction was conveyed at the 7th Congress of the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, which opened on Thursday in Beijing.

Xinhua contributed to this story.