An international seminar on "one brand name for one village" program, a rural economic development scheme, concluded in Xi’an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Sunday.

 

A document titled The Xi'an Declaration was adopted at the end of the seminar, which calls for worldwide cooperation in combating poverty and promoting common prosperity through the "one brand name for one village" approach.

 

The two-day seminar attracted more than 120 officials, experts, scholars and economic organization representatives from 19 countries and regions across the globe.

 

The seminar was cosponsored by Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the Shaanxi provincial government, China's State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, and a Japan-based association dedicated to the promotion of the program.

 

The program is advocated by Morihiko Hiramatsu, former governor of Japan's Oita-Ken Prefecture.

 

So far this rural development program has been carried out in several countries including China, Thailand and the Republic of Korea.

 

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi also attended the seminar.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2005)