China Western Forum Concludes

China Western Forum Concludes

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The three-day 2001 China Western Forum concluded in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, northwest China, Thursday.

Li Zibin, deputy director of the Western Development Office of the State Council, described the forum as a success in an address at a reception marking the conclusion of the event.

Representatives from more than 110 world-renowned enterprises took part in trade negotiations at the forum and reached investing contracts valued at 600 million US dollars.

The forum has attracted more than 600 Chinese and overseas participants, including ranking government officials, business magnates from Fortune 500 companies, foreign diplomatic envoys in China, leaders of major Chinese enterprises, and economists.

Also at the closing point, participants expressed their best wishes for the forum.

Gao Jianqun, a famous writer of the west, expressed the hope that the forum would spiritually reinvigorate the people of the west.

He said, "We should get rid of old ideas and learn to adapt to the market economy environment."

Zhang Song, a businessman from Xi'an, voiced the hope that the forum would serve to improve the investing environment and economic order.

Zhang said, "I hope that the forum will help adjust the function of government departments so that they will offer better services for enterprises"

Professor Duan Lianhe from Xi'an expressed hope that the forum would serve as a seeder, which creates a good foundation for the subsequent cultivation and harvest.

To develop the west, it will take down-to-earth efforts, he said, and those good suggestions on environment protection, capital market cultivation, and resource development put forward by many experts should be put into practice in the future, he said.