Top political advisor calls for enhancing regional co-op

Source: Xinhua | 05-12-2009 09:02

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin on Monday called for enhancing regional economic cooperation in northern part of the country including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, told deputies to a regional economic development forum that "coordinated regional development is needed to enhance the country's overall economic level."

He said the forum, jointly organized by local advisory bodies of the five provinces, municipalities and autonomous region, had offered in-depth advises to the Party and government over the past five years on issues such as the move of the Shougang Group, a major steel company, out of the capital, the construction of Hebei's Caofeidian Industrial Zone and Tianjin's Binhai New Area, as well as topics like energy saving and emission reduction and environmental protection.

Jia, also member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, said the central government had implemented a package of policies to expand domestic demand and promote a stable and relatively fast economic development against a background of international financial crisis.

"These policies have reaped initial fruit and the country's economic development has turned positive and is better than expected," he said, adding, however, the crisis was still spreading and continued to affect the Chinese economy.