China's coal-rich Shanxi strives for high-quality development

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- North China's Shanxi Province, a major coal-producing region of the country, is pursuing high-quality and green development by promoting new quality productive forces.

Jin Xiangjun, governor of Shanxi, told a press conference held on Wednesday by the State Council Information Office in Beijing, that the province aims to build a modern industrial system featuring the characteristics and advantages of Shanxi, stimulate the internal driving forces and innovation vitality of business entities, and build a "beautiful Shanxi."

The province will take developing new quality productive forces as its fundamental task, and beef up efforts to seek breakthroughs in areas including scientific and technological innovation and new energy systems, said Jin.

While ensuring national energy security and deepening the comprehensive pilot reforms of the energy revolution, Shanxi has led the country in its number of intelligent coal mines and output of unconventional natural gas, Jin added.

According to the governor, Shanxi has also made remarkable achievements in the field of environmental protection. In recent years, it has stepped up afforestation efforts and carried out river clean-ups, as well as the ecological conservation of lakes. In 2023, the average concentration of PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, was reduced to 37 micrograms per cubic meter in the province.

As an inland province, Shanxi has opened wider to the outside world, too. Currently, the province has launched 15 regular China-Europe freight train routes, reaching 48 cities in 16 countries, Jin noted.