BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China will target institutional barriers and deeply embedded interests in reform this year, said a statement from a Communist Party of China (CPC) reform leading group on Tuesday.

Priority should be given to reforms in key areas including state-owned enterprises and state-owned assets, monopoly sectors, finance and taxation, property rights protection, rural revitalization, social security, opening up, and ecological conservation, according to the statement issued after the second meeting of the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the CPC Central Committee.

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the group, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech.