The Office of the Leading Group for Revitalizing Northeast China under the State Council issued the Northeast Region Revitalization Program on August 20, noting that China will make efforts to fully revitalize China's northeast region in 10 to 15 years. According to the program, increasing the region's independent innovation capacity to create a batch of advantage enterprises with independent intellectual property rights, well-known brands and international competitiveness is one of the major goals for the region's economic and social development in the 11th Five-Year Plan.

According to the program, China will construct its northeast region into an important economic growing region with comparatively reasonable industrial structure, coordinative development between urban and rural areas, sound development of resourceful cities, harmonious society and higher comprehensive economic development level. The region will be developed into equipment manufacturing base with international competitiveness, China's safeguard base for new types of raw materials and energy supply, important production base of commodity grain and agro-pastoral industry, China's key base for technological research and development and innovation, and China's important reservation for ecological security, so as to fully rejuvenate the region.

The program outlined the region's economic and social development goal in the 11th Five Year Plan:
 
Maintaining fast and sound economic development guided by scientific development concept. On the basis of optimizing structures, improving efficiency and reducing costs, measures will be taken to double the region's total output value on the basis of that of 2002. Great achievements will be made in economic structure adjustments and the proportions of the service industry and non-state-owned economy in the region's total output value will be increased notably.

Improving its independent innovation capacity to create a batch of advantage enterprises with independent intellectual property rights, well-known brands and international competitiveness. Its capacity of sustainable development will increase dramatically. Resource utility efficiency will be improved greatly and the deterioration of ecological environment will be basically contained. Great progresses will be made in abating water pollution in Liaohe River and Songhuajiang River valleys and air pollution in the region. Marine ecological environment will be improved.

Lifting the social development level. Basic public services will be improved. Education, health and social security systems are to be perfected gradually and the number of impoverished people will continue to drop. The disaster prevention and reduction capacity will be enhanced and social security and safety production will be further improved. The new socialism countryside construction will yield obvious achievements. The growth rates of urban citizens' per-capita disposable income and rural residents' average net income will be higher than the nation's average level. Registered unemployment rate in urban areas will be controlled under 5 percent.

Making outstanding progress in the process of reform and opening up to the outside world. Socialism market economic system will be perfected continuously and great breakthroughs will be made in system innovation. Reform to state-owned enterprises will be basically completed. The structure of opening up to the outside world focusing on some coastal and bordering cities will be established. Foreign-related economic cooperation will be further encouraged, foreign trade will grow at comparatively higher rates, and the quality and level of foreign capital utilization will be improved greatly.

China will take important measures to cope with the outstanding contradictions and problems in the program. These measures include: accelerating its reform pace, speeding up structure adjustments and upgrades, fastening regional cooperation process, promoting the transition of resources exhausted cities, boosting the construction of energy-saving and environment-friendly society, and encouraging the development of various social undertakings such as education, healthcare, culture and sports.

2007-08-23

2007-08-23