Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has called for county-level
economic development with a strategic view to promote the national
campaign of building new countryside.
Acting as a linkage between urban and rural areas, county towns
have both agricultural and non-agricultural economic features and
play a significant role in boosting the country's overall economic
and social development, Hui said at an economic forum on developed
counties recently held in Rongcheng of east China's Shandong Province.
The development of county-level economy is an important way to
make different regions develop in a coordinated and balanced way
and ensure the sustained and rapid growth of the national economy,
the vice premier said.
Official statistics show that there were 660 cities and 1642
counties in China by the end of 2003.
He said the?government will open the counties wider to
foreign investors, introduce advanced expertise and technologies
and talents, and upgrade local industrial structure.
Hui noted that urban areas should try to extend infrastructure,
public services and industrial chains to county towns, and
developed counties should share their experiences with less
developed areas.
(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2006)
