Three Ethnic Prefectures Involve in West China DevelopmentThree ethnic minority prefectures which were granted preferential policies equal to west China showed off their feature resources at the 2001 Western Forum, which opened Tuesday in this capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.The three prefectures are the Yanbian Korea Autonomous Prefecture in northeast China's Jilin Province, the Enshi Tujia, Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China's Hubei Province, and the Western Hunan Tujia, Miao Autonomous Prefecture in central China's Hunan Province. Outside of west China, where a massive develop-the-west campaign has been going on, the three prefectures share similar conditions to the economies there. Nan Xiangfu, head of Yanbian, said at the meeting Tuesday that his prefecture, bordering with Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a hub on the continental bridge linking Europe and Asia. The central government has approved the establishment of a border economic cooperation zone and an export processing zone in Yanbian as well as state-level development zones to assist local economic take-off, Nan said. The Western Hunan and Enshi prefectures boast rich mineral and tourism resources, with the former known as the "place of selenium ". Officials from the three prefectures vowed to make the most of central government's favorable policies to improve local investment environment and invite more investment. |
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