BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday chaired a State Council executive meeting, which heard a report on the work on population aging and discussed matters concerning the healthy development of sports events.

The meeting also made arrangements for the work to expand and upgrade medical rehabilitation and nursing care services, adopted a draft regulation on the protection of traditional knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and discussed draft amendments to 15 laws.

Regarding the work on population aging, the meeting called for improving services and support for the elderly, and making sustained efforts in elderly care, health promotion and social security.

It also called for developing silver economy products and services tailored to the elderly, fostering new consumption scenarios, and better meeting elderly people's consumption needs.

On promoting the healthy development of sports events, the meeting stressed the need to increase the supply of high-quality sports events, make better use of various sports venues, facilities and event-related resources, and advance the coordinated development of competitive, professional and mass-participation sports events.

It also urged the integrated development of sports events with culture, tourism and commerce, faster application of new technologies, and improved spectator experience.

Regarding the sector of medical rehabilitation and nursing care, the meeting emphasized strengthening the service system with a focus on community-level services, extending rehabilitation and nursing resources to communities and families, and improving the accessibility of rehabilitation and nursing services for urban and rural residents.

It called for leveraging scientific and technological innovation to improve medical rehabilitation and nursing care, developing more intelligent technologies and equipment, optimizing the review and approval of new technologies and products, and enriching service scenarios.

The meeting also said that TCM theories, technologies and prescriptions are important resources for China's independent innovation. It called for comprehensively strengthening the protection and management of traditional knowledge of TCM to safeguard the foundation for the development of TCM, coordinating protection and utilization of TCM resources, and strengthening international exchanges.

The meeting discussed and approved, in principle, draft amendments to the 15 laws, including the Emergency Response Law, and decided to submit them to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review.