NW China Provincial Leaders Discuss Economic CooperationSenior officials from five provinces and autonomous regions in northwest China and ministries of the State Council gathered to discuss economic cooperation strategies at two-day meeting which closed on July 27.Vice-Premier Qian Qichen attended the meeting and said that the northwestern areas, densely populated by ethnic people, should work hard to increase the income of farmers and herdsmen from various ethnic groups. While developing the economy, the local governments should also give priority to the implementation of the country's religious policies, he said. The officials reached an consensus that the five provinces and autonomous regions of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi will establish regional cooperative ties on the basis of mutual benefit geared to the 21st century. They will bring their respective advantages into full play for joint development. The meeting is called at a time when China has carrying out a strategy to develop the vast but underdeveloped western region on a large scale as the reform and opening-up policy has greatly promoted development in the eastern coastal area over the past more than two decades. |
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