President Jiang Zemin called for enhancing awareness of the importance of the large-scale west development campaign and pushing forward work on this front on Monday.
Jiang made the remark during a meeting in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The participants in the meeting evaluated the "Develop the West" work in six western provinces and regions in the last two years and set goals for the future.
The Chinese Government announced its plan to develop western China in 1999 and began carrying out the strategy a year later. The aim is to help the west catch up with the economically successful east.
Western China includes Chongqing Municipality; Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai provinces; and Tibet, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uygur, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions.
Western China, which accounts for 56 per cent of the nation and 50 per cent of verified deposits of mineral resources, has not enjoyed the same degree of prosperity as eastern China since the country opened up in 1979.
Despite its wealth of natural resources, the inland has a weak industrial foundation.
Even worse, it has attracted little foreign investment.
Statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation show that the pledged capital and actual volume of foreign investment project accounted for only 5.42 and 2.47 per cent respectively of the nation's total last year.
"The 'Develop the West' strategy is of great and far-reaching significance for speeding up the development of China's central and western regions, China's modernization and the resurgence of the Chinese nation," Jiang said.
He urged Party and government officials to improve their managerial and administrative skills to better serve the campaign.
In addition, he asked various departments of the central government and eastern and central provinces to continue supporting the development of the west.
(China Daily April 2, 2002)
