Redi and Legqoi
 

Western Development and Tibet.
At the high-level economic forum on the western development drive held February 27, Wei Jie, an economist and professor with the Economic Research Center of At the

 
 

 

 

annual meeting of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) of China and the Ninth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) last March, Redi, chairman of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that the western development drive provides a rare historical opportunity for the development of Tibet. The starting point and final aim of Tibet in participating in the western development drive is to continuously improve the Tibetan people's cultural and living standards. The focuses of Tibetan development are on accelerating infrastructure construction, enhancing ecological environment construction, taking the road of sustainable development, developing high-yield, high-quality and high-efficiency agriculture and animal husbandry, adjusting and optimizing the industrial structure in the course of development, developing leading industries, developing science and technology and education, trying all possible ways to cultivate and introduce all kinds of talented people, and continuously improving the overall quality of the region.

Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Legqoi said that Tibet wants to be the reservoir of the northwest, as the autonomous region has abundant water resources in the form of densely distributed glaciers, lakes and rivers. The theoretical reserves of natural water energy reach 200 million kw. The major lakes are the Namco, Yangzhuoyong and Bangongco, which all contain fish. Tibet also has large reserves of water, which has high contents of minerals and is free from pollution.

Besides water, Legqoi said that Tibet should also be an important energy supply base for western China.

In the Tibet Autonomous Region, deposits of such metals as chromium, iron, manganese, gold, silver, bronze, antimony and lithium, and such non-metals as coal, salt, arsenic and oil have all been found. To date, deposits of more than 100 minerals have been found in Tibet. There are also 136 ore deposits with demonstrated reserves, 36 of which are large in scale, 31 are medium-sized and 82 are small in scale. Seventeen minerals are among the top nine in the country in terms of reserves. Initial estimates show that the potential value of Tibetan mineral resources is over 650 billion yuan.

Legqoi also said that the unique plateau biological resources of Tibet are another precious treasure of China. Tibetan medicines made from medicinal plants are becoming well known on both the domestic and international markets.

Legqoi said that the western development drive is a comprehensive and systematic project, as well as a hard task. He promised that Tibet would follow the economic and scientific laws and open up in all directions. It will take advantage of the nation's support for Tibet and develop coordination with 15 Tibet-aiding provinces or cities in all forms and at all levels. It will open up widely, and reward investors with preferential policies and services to realize the common development of talented people, technology, management, market and resources.

 

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