China's leadership cut this year's growth target for its slowing economy to 6.5-7 percent and promised Saturday to allow private companies into its petroleum and telecoms markets as part of sweeping reforms aimed boosting productivity and incomes.

The growth target, down from last year's "about 7 percent" and less than half of 2007's peak of 14.2 percent, was included in a work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang to China's national legislature that starts a 12-day session in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Saturday.

China's economy has cooled steadily as the ruling Communist Party tries to replace a worn-out model based on trade and investment with self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption. Growth declined last year to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent and is forecast to drift lower this year.

Plans call for transforming China into a middle-income economy with self-sustaining growth driven by consumer spending instead of investment, trade and heavy industry. That requires the ruling party to cut back the dominance of state industry that reform advocates complain is a drag on the economy and to give entrepreneurs a bigger role.

Li, the top economic official, promised to open state-dominated industries including telecoms, petroleum and public utilities, though he failed to say whether foreign companies might be allowed in or how large an ownership stake private competitors might be allowed. He said private companies in those fields would receive the same treatment as state-owned enterprises in project approval, finance and tax policy.

Much of China's economic slowdown has been self-imposed as regulators clamped down on a building boom and tried to encourage the growth of retailing, tourism and other service industries. An unexpectedly sharp downturn over the past two years has raised the risk of politically dangerous job losses and prompted Beijing to shore up growth with mini-stimulus efforts.

The latest growth target would be the minimum President Xi Jinping said in November is needed this decade to achieve the official goal of making China "moderately prosperous." Economists warn anything higher could set back reforms by forcing Beijing to prop up growth with more wasteful investment.

Communist leaders have tried to shift public attention away from the growth target. They say their priority is jobs and so long as the economy generates enough they will accept slower growth.

The slowdown and Beijing's reforms have wiped out jobs in mining, steelmaking and other industries.

Retailing, e-commerce and other service industries are growing and absorbing some idled workers but others are struggling to find work. The government says the economy created 13 million new jobs last year but has not said how many were lost at the same time.

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