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China to Issue Policies for Developing Western Regions
China will issue and implement policies to promote the development of its western regions around October this year, a senior official with the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) said Monday.
"State Council departments are working on the policies and measures," said Li Zibin, vice-minister of SDPC and deputy director of the Western Region Development Office of the State Council, at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council.
The policies will help further reform state-owned enterprises, improve the vitality of the enterprises and gradually turn them into a leading force in the development of the western regions, he said.
They will benefit the development of an export-oriented economy and foreign economic and technological cooperation, and encourage enterprises in the east to invest in infrastructure projects and do business in the west.
Li said that the policies and measures are also aimed to develop science, technology and education and attract and train professionals for China's western regions.
The policies will cover finance, taxation, investment, price, land, foreign investment and trade, li said.
An overall plan for western region development has been listed in the country's Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) for National Economic and Social Development.
At present, various provinces and autonomous regions in the west and departments of the State Council are drafting development plans for each locality and trade.
China will inject an estimated 32.6 billion yuan (3.93 billion U.S. dollars) into the construction of 78 large and medium-sized basic projects in the west this year. Focus will be put on ten major projects.
Efforts will also be made to speed up the work for such major projects as a west-to-east natural gas transmission, a west-to-east electricity transmission, and a railway stretching to the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Li said that emphasis on environmental protection will be put on returning farmland to forests and grasslands, protecting natural forest resources, preventing and controlling desertification, and carrying out a water and soil conservation project in the west.
He pointed out that to implement the western region development program it is necessary to consolidate and strengthen the status of agriculture as the foundation of China's economy and develop agriculture and rural economy in the western regions.
In the first half of the year, west China saw a major improvement in economic growth. Its GDP and consumption rose considerably, exceeding growth rates of last year. The increase of investment in fixed assets surpassed the national average level.
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