BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- China's rollout of a series of major projects will play an important role in advancing the country's development over the next five years, an expert said on Friday.

Hou Yongzhi, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, made the remarks during the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency.

China has mapped out 109 major projects over the next five years in areas including the development of new quality productive forces, modern infrastructure, urban-rural integration, and the improvement of people's well-being.

These projects span all aspects of China's modernization drive, Hou said, adding that they balance short-term and long-term priorities, combine "hard investment" with "soft development," and promote both material and cultural-ethical advancement.

Hou highlighted that some projects focus on enhancing industrial foundation capabilities and competitiveness, fostering new industries and new arenas, advancing frontier technological research, and strengthening innovation capacity.

These projects will help foster the new quality productive forces and enable China to gain a greater edge in increasingly fierce global industrial and technological competition, he added. ■