BEIJING - The importance of promoting culture, both domestically and internationally, was placed center stage at a key leadership meeting.

A pledge was made to boost China's cultural influence internationally and provide the sector with more resources domestically at a plenary session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, which ended on Tuesday.

President Hu Jintao addressed the meeting, which opened on Saturday.

In a guideline endorsed at the conference, the leaders stressed that China is facing an imperative need to boost its "cultural soft power" and enhance the global image of its culture.

Culture is emerging as an important part of the country's comprehensive competitiveness, according to a communiqu released at the end of the meeting.

The country should not only provide its people with an ample material life, but also a healthy and rich cultural life, the document said.

"Culture has increasingly become a major element bringing together the people and the creative power of the Chinese nationality," the communiqu said.

"It is a major factor in the nation's comprehensive competitiveness as well as the backbone of the country's economic and social development.

"It is the aspiration of our people to enrich their spiritual and cultural lives."

The communiqu also announced that the CPC will convene its 18th national congress in the second half of 2012.

The guideline "covers more than ideology and morality, it also stipulates that the country should provide more cultural products for the public and invite private and foreign capital into the field", Xiang Yong, vice-president of Peking University's Institute for Cultural Industry, said.

The country has given economic growth more attention, while cultural development has not been high on agenda, Xiang told China Daily.

Zhao Qizheng, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and also a former minister of the State Council Information Office, said culture is a fundamental attribute of a nation.

With the government's unprecedented weight thrown behind the development of the cultural sector, the country is expected to reverse what he described as a "deficit" in global cultural exchanges.

To align culture with the country's global standing, authorities have pledged to allow it to play a more central part in economic and social development.

"Culture is a major driving force for economic growth, just next to the finance industry," said Liu Shanying, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the country's top think tank.

"It is a golden opportunity for the private sector, since the cultural industry, characterized by innovation and talent, might not easily fit in to the more rigid formats of State-run companies," he said.

Xie Tao, a media officer from a Beijing-based cultural development company, told China Daily that his business has seen a progressive rise since the company opened in 2005.

"Almost all the concerts and shows we held this year were a box office success," he said.

Xie said his company had benefited from both government policies and international experience.

"We have more government support than before and we also have access to more international stars, such as the Eagles and Bob Dylan, since we are funded by a foreign company.