In 1992, Deng underscored the need to follow through on the "modernization" course that he initiated in the 1980s and he emphasized the need for the economy to strengthen investment and become far more export-oriented. These policies, pursued by Deng's successors, spurred extraordinary overall economic growth including the emergence from poverty into the mainstream of hundreds of millions of Chinese. Now, however, Xi and Li accept that the era of double-digit annual GDP growth has ended. They are building Communist Party support—and this is why the forthcoming plenary session is important—for rapid action on an economic agenda that they hope can deliver sustained annual growth of between 7 and 7.5 percent.