Xi urges high-quality development of Yangtze River Economic Belt

NANJING - President Xi Jinping has stressed efforts to implement the spirit of the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Saturday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, at a symposium he chaired on comprehensively advancing the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

He called for efforts to write a new chapter in prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development, create a new model for regional coordinated development, create a new height for high-level opening-up, foster advantages in innovation-led development, and draw a new painting featuring harmony between nature, the people and the cities.

Such efforts are aimed at turning the Yangtze River Economic Belt into the country's main focus for green development, the major artery for a smooth "dual circulation" of domestic and international markets, and the main force spearheading high-quality economic development, he said.

After hearing reports from seven officials that include ministers and provincial Party chiefs, Xi said over the past five years, transitional changes have taken place in the ecological and environmental protection along the Yangtze River Economic Belt while historical achievements have been achieved in the area's economic and social development.

Provinces and municipalities along the Yangtze River have done a good job in handling the COVID-19 epidemic and coping with the shocks brought by huge floods as well as external environmental changes, making a prominent contribution for China to first restore positive growth among major economies, he said.

Xi said that promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is an important strategy that has a bearing on the overall national development, noting that the Yangtze River Economic Belt consists of 11 provinces and municipalities and accounts for about half of China's population and GDP.