Western Areas Enjoy Priority in Receiving Int'l AssistanceA senior Chinese official said here Tuesday that the ethnic-minority areas in western China, poverty-stricken areas and remote areas would enjoy priority in receiving international assistance gratis.Long Yongtu, chief negotiator of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, told a national conference on gratis multilateral and bilateral assistance here that the free aid will focus on environmental protection and social development programs. He said the arrangement of the assistance will be based on China's overall development plan. Officials from 21 ministries and State Council commissions, and 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are attending the conference, which opened here Tuesday. Long Yongtu said that though the gratis assistance, valued at 300 million US dollars to China each year, is limited, it has been playing an effective role in the country's building of a market-oriented economy. He said that over the past 20 years China has received gratis multilateral and bilateral assistance valued at six billion US dollars, which has greatly helped promote China's social and economic development. |
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