Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu yesterday called on southwest
China's Chongqing Municipality to make greater efforts
to become a leading economic force in the country's underdeveloped
western region.
Hui attended a meeting marking the 10th anniversary of the
setting up of the Chongqing municipality. In March 1997, the city
was approved as China's fourth centrally administered municipality
after Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.
Hui extended his congratulations on behalf of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State
Council.
He said Chongqing must aim to become "an economic development
engine in the country's western region, an economic center in the
upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and a municipality with
coordinated development between urban and rural areas".
Hui said he hoped Chongqing could establish a "new" way of
development, namely, using big cities to lead the development of
rural areas.
Compared with the country's affluent eastern coastal areas, the
central and western regions have been left behind in economic
development.
On June 7, Chongqing and Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan Province, were selected by the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as pilot cities
for coordinated and balanced development between urban and rural
areas.
Covering 82,000 sq km, Chongqing Municipality has a population
of 31 million, 73 percent of whom live in rural areas.
The city's gross domestic product was 348.6 billion yuan
(US$45.8 billion) in 2006. However, its growth has been grossly
uneven.
The per capita GDP in Wuxi County was 3,593 yuan last year, only
one-tenth of that in the developed Yuzhong District.
Acknowledging the municipality's economic, political, and
cultural development in the past 10 years, Hui also urged Chongqing
to improve its overall capacity and to change its pattern of
economic growth.
Cadres at all levels should maintain the progressive spirit and
further enhance their awareness of the importance of thrift, plain
living, and hard work, Hui said.
In a related development, the local government is seeking
suggestions from people around the world on how to achieve a
balanced development.
In an open letter posted on the city's website - www.cqnews.net -- Party chief Wang Yang and Mayor Wang Hongju encouraged people "of all walks of
life, netizens, scholars, specialists at home and abroad, and
research and media institutions" to submit proposals via the
Internet. They also said they would study the experiences of other
countries in "urbanization and industrialization.”
"The ultimate aim of coordinated rural and urban development is
to enable rural farmers and migrant workers to enjoy the same
rights, public services and living conditions as urban residents,"
Yang Weimin, an official with the NDRC, said.
People can submit their ideas by e-mail to wangyang@cq.gov.cn and hongju@cq.gov.cn.
(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)
