China to focus on west, northeast development

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A boy is reading a book in a poverty-stricken village in west China. The western part of the country is less developed than the prosperous coastal region in the east.

China will make greater efforts to develop the country's western and northeastern regions, which are comparatively less developed, said a statement released by the State Council on Monday.

During a meeting on January 3, 2012, the State Council approved the guidelines for the development of China's west and northeast regions in the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).

According to the statement, the western region is the bottleneck of the country's regional development. Achieving its prosperity is important to the building of an all-round well-off society.

In the five-year period, efforts will be made to keep the growth of the regional GDP and the residents' income higher than the national average.

Measures will also be taken to build "development priority zones" in line with their environmental features, natural resources, current development stage and development potential, said the statement.

Regarding the northeastern region, the statement said that there were still unsolved structural problems that have restricted the regional development.

Local governments are required to further deepen reform and accelerate transformation of development pattern in the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).

Local governments should work to ensure sustainable development of resource-rich cities, improve infrastructures, enhance environmental protection, boost employment and affordable housing construction, and deepen reforms of state-owned enterprises while accelerating the growth of the private sector.

Eastern and central provinces, which are comparatively more developed, are required to offer better assistance to the these regions.