Speaking at the Fortune Globe Forum 2001, Zeng said the western region, with 70 percent of China's total land area and 30 percent its population, boasts rich natural resources and cultural relics.

In the 20 years of China's reform and opening-up drive, he added, the landlocked region has made great progress in economic development, but still lags behind the eastern coastal region, with the gap still to widen. This situation is unfavorable to the development of the national economy and to social stability and unity among China's various nationalities.

Therefore, he noted, to develop the western region constitutes a major aspect of China's economic growth in terms of markets and resources.

Zeng told his audience that emphasis of the region's development will first be placed on infrastructure construction in such fields as energy and water conservancy, and then on environmental protection, projects with local features, education, science and technology.

Geographically terms, he added, development projects will mainly concentrate on the Eurasia continental bridge belt, the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the sea ports in southwest China.

To encourage foreign investors to the region, he said, the Chinese government has improved the business environment there by producing a series of favorable policies and regulations on such areas as land use, taxation and mineral resources.

After its entry into the World Trade Organization, Zeng promised, China will, under multilateral and bilateral agreements, open its market wider, particularly in the western region. In addition, he said, China will also expand its experiments in business practices further to the west so as to attract more foreign capital.

On investment priority, he said, infrastructure and city construction including environmental protection will be high on the list, to be followed by the energy, power, water conservancy, coal mining and long-distance power grid system.

(China Daily 05/10/2001)