At the press conference sponsored by the State Council Information Office on August 8th, Mr. Li Zibin, deputy director of State Development Planning Commission & Office of Leading Group for Western Region Development Under the State council, and Mr. Cheng Andong, governor of Shaan Xi province briefed recent development of the government's program on developing the western area and preparation work of the "2001 Western Forum of Chin". They also answered the questions from the press.

Li Zibin	Cheng Andong

It is a major strategic decision taken by President Jiang Zemin and the Chinese government to implement the Western Region Development Strategy when China has entered a time of building a wealthy society and promoting the socialist modernization drive. The decision is an important part of the third strategic step for China to carry out its modernization drive as well as a paramount strategy for China's national economy and social development during its 10th 5-year Plan period. For the past year, all the concerned regions and departments have actively carried out this important decision of the Central Government. Substantial steps have been made in the infrastructure construction. Ecological and environmental protection has been strengthened, the development of science, technology and education has been quickened, and progress has been made in the structural adjustment. These symbolize a good start for the implementation of the Western Region Development Strategy.

In 2000, the state has increased its investment in the west regions, with the support of active financial policies. Investment from national bonds is as much as 43 billion RMB to support the infrastructure construction. If considering the budgetary construction fund, the total investment amounts to more than 70 billion RMB. The construction of large and medium-sized infrastructure projects has been accelerated, with an investment of the 76.2 billion RMB in 2000, and 40% of the projects have been fully or partially completed. 10 new big projects have started to be built, with a total investment of over 100 billion RMB and over 20 billion RMB used. This year, the funding from the national bonds and the budget for the Western Region will surpass that of the previous year. 12 big projects will start to be built, and the total investment will be around 300 billion RMB. A group of key projects in relation to the overall development of the West such as the Qinghai-Tibet railway, West- East power transmission, West-East Gas Pipeline, main lines of the state highway, water conservancy hubs along the upper stream of both the Yangtze River and Yellow River, science and education, feature agriculture, and the infrastructure construction of the central cities etc. have been under construction or will go into construction soon.

As for the protection and construction of the ecological environment, it is preliminarily estimated that 5.79 million mu (1 mu equals 1/15 hectare) of cultivated area has been turned back into forest and pasture in 2000, accounting for 102% of the target of 5.65 million mu. 7.17 million mu waste mountains and land suitable for forestry has been planted with trees and grass, making up 102% of the target of 7.01 million mu. The average surviving rate of the forestation amounts to over 80%, and the average qualification rate of the forestation reaches more than 90%. Of the completed forestation acreage, 11.138 million mus is ecological forest, accounting for 85.9% of the completed forestation acreage. It is planned this year that 8 million mu of cultivated land will be turned back into forest and pasture, and 12 million mu of waste mountains and land suitable for forestation will be planted with trees and grass. Under the leadership of the Party's committees and governments at all levels, a great number of the farmers have actively involved and the work is now favorably moving along. In addition, such projects as the protection of the natural forest, the comprehensive management of the ecological and environmental construction in the key areas, the control and management of the sources for the sand storm around Beijing and Tianjin, the restoration and construction of the natural grassland, and water and soil conservancy etc. have been advancing steadily.

With regard to science and education and development of human resources, pleasant progress has been made in high-tech industries in the western regions. Starting from last year, some concerned ministries have attentively selected 19 demonstration projects in relation to environmental protection and ecological construction and the value-added resource development. According to the ecological characteristics of the West, the R&D and integration of such advanced technologies as water-saving agriculture, emphasis has been put on highly-efficient agriculture through "the conversion of slopes into terraces", control and management of the small river reaches, ecological engineering of the forestry, and the restoration of the degenerative grassland and so on. All this has provided the technical support for the restoration and improvement of the ecological environment of the West and the development of the featured economy and backbone industry. In order to quicken and update the training of the high-quality talents in the western regions, the state has issued the national bonds to support the universities in the West, construction of the lab facilities, the living and activity campus of the students, and the intranet of some of the universities, and the setup of a number of vocational and technical education and training centers in some poverty-stricken counties. Apart from this, the assistance programs have been carried out between the east and western regions and between the high school and primary school of the big and medium cities in the West and that of the poverty-stricken regions. The state has also laid more emphasis on the compulsory education in the poor areas of the west regions.

In the first half of this year, the investment for the fixed assets in the 12 regions of the West is 17.11 billion RMB, with an increase of 28.8% compared with that of the previous year and more than 10 percent higher than that of other regions. The GDP of the said regions has increased by 8.5%, higher than the average national level. Moreover, the step of the structural adjustment in the west regions has been speeded up, considerable progress has been made in the reform, reorganization and reconstruction of the enterprises, and bigger strides have been made in the opening up to the outside world. There has appeared a favorable momentum in the development of the West.

In accordance with the spirit of "holding the China West Forum better and better each year" instructed by the leaders of the state council, "China West Forum on·2001" is co-sponsored by the Office of the State Council for the Development of the Western Region, State Development Planning Commission, State Economics and Trade Commission, Ministry of International Economics and Foreign Trade, the Information Office of the State Council and the People's Government of Shaan Xi Province. The forum is organized by the People's Government of Shaan Xi Province with the assistance of the people's governments of 11 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, and the Xinjiang Military Corps of Production and Construction. The theme of this forum is "The Investment Environment of the West Regions and their Opening up to the Outside World". The topics for discussion include the construction of the infrastructure and the ecological environment and the raising of capital, soft environment for investment and innovation of the system, changes of the market environment and countermeasures with China's entry into the WTO, and the experience of foreign business people in China, etc.

It takes a long-term and hard endeavor to fulfill all the key tasks for the development of the West and to gradually improve the comparatively backward situation of the West. The state will carry out a series of policies and measures to support the development of the West. While it is increasing the capital investment to the West, the state is committing itself to the improvement of the investment environment, especially the soft environment of the West and the expansion of the opening up to the outside world. In accordance with the Notice of the State Council on the Implementation of a Number of Policies and Measures to Develop the West, the state has specified the corresponding implementation suggestions and policy details. With the approval by the state council, these suggestions and detailed rules will be disclosed by the concerned department for implementation.

Against the background that the Chinese socialist market economy has preliminarily been set up and China will soon enter the WTO, we are determined to deepen our reform and further our opening up to the outside world. First of all, we will further improve the investment environment, especially the soft environment for investment. It is an urgent task to make a breakthrough progress in the development of the West. We will further convert the functions of the governments at all levels by reducing the executive examinations and approvals, establishing open and transparent market regulations, improving the administrative management by law, strengthening the construction of an honest, clean and hard-working government, and protecting the legal benefits of the investors. We will also deepen our reform of the state-owned enterprises, and make great efforts to develop standardized share-holding companies and private economy. At the same time, we will make full use of the opportunity of the economic globalization, adjustment of the world economic structure and China's entry into the WTO to vigorously develop an open economy, expand the economic and technical exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries. To carry out the policy of "taking in" and "Going out", we will try to take advantage of the domestic and overseas markets and resources. We will actively guide the investment to move from the civilians and abroad to the development of the West. By further liberating our minds, exploring courageously and following the significant guidance of the "three representations", we will do some down-to-earth work so as to push forward all the tasks of the development of the West.

"Preparation of "China West Forum 2001"