Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Coping with the Global Financial Crisis and Maintaining Steady and Properly Rapid Economic Development in the Western Area of China

3. Adjust industrial structure and change the mode of economic development

The development of agriculture with characteristics shall be accelerated. We shall proactively improve farmlands with medium or low yields and spend more efforts in developing dry farming and water saving agriculture. The comprehensive treatment of soil erosion in cultivated lands shall be launched and certain number of basic farmlands that meet high standards shall be developed. The grain output shall be increased in Chengdu Plain of Sichuan, Guanzhong Plain of Shaanxi, Hetao area of Inner Mongolia, areas along the Yellow River in Ningxia and Hexi Corridor in Gansu. We shall actively promote the construction of production bases of quality cotton, sugar crops, oil-bearing crops, tobaccos, fruits, flowers, tea, sericulture, potato, livestock products, Chinese medicinal plants and natural rubber, build a batch of agricultural product processing demonstration bases and cultivate some leading enterprises with certain industrial influence. Supports shall be given to Shanxi Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Industry Demonstration Zone, Gansu Tianshui Space Mutation Breeding Demonstration Zone and Yunnan Subtropical Agriculture Demonstration Zone. We shall support the construction of quality agricultural products production bases and development of leading industrialized agricultural enterprises, improve industrialization level and enhance application of advance and practical technologies in and scientific and technical services for agriculture and rural areas.

Industry shall be optimized and upgraded. We shall execute and diligently carry out the national major industry adjustment and rejuvenation plan. Efforts shall be made to proactively develop technical-based leading industries, expand the scale and increase the level of industries including aviation and space flight, modern equipment manufacturing, electronics and information, science and technologies for national defense, new energy and new materials, and promote the construction of hi-tech industrial bases including Shaanxi Yanliang civil aviation base, Gansu Jinchang new materials base, Sichuan Chengdu biological base and Deyang major equipment manufacturing base. We shall optimize and develop resource-utilized industries, accelerate intensive development of energy and chemical industry and mineral resources processing industry, and improve the level of comprehensive utilization of resources. The 10mn-ton oil-refining project and 1mn-ton ethylene project of China National Petroleum Company in Xinjiang Duzishan shall be finished. The construction of major petroleum and natural gas projects in Changqing and Sebei shall be quickened. The base for development, comprehensive utilization and transmission of oil and natural gas in Erdos, Talimu, Zhunger, Chaidamu and Sichuan basins shall be gradually constructed. Enterprises shall spend more efforts in technical transformation to improve their technical levels and competitiveness of their products.

The self-independent innovation abilities shall be improved. National scientific and technical infrastructure shall be built in the western area and some major labs and engineering and technical research center at national level shall be established there. We shall support research institutions and enterprises to take national major scientific and technological programs and achieve breakthroughs on some key issues that commonly exist in the western area. More policy supports shall be given to the hi-tech zones in the western area and the development of small and medium-scale technical enterprises shall be supported. We shall give full play to the scientific and technical advantages of national defense industry, encourage military-civilian combination and support the development of Mianyang Science and Technology City.

More progress shall be made in the modern service industry. More efforts shall be made on travel infrastructure construction, infrastructure in scenic spots shall be improved, tourism focusing on nature and folk customs shall be developed, and certain number of typical travel routes shall be developed. We shall continue to promote the programs including "upgrading and restructuring of agricultural products wholesale markets", "establishment of markets in rural areas", "100 markets" program and commercial information service in rural areas. The e-commerce service shall be developed. More efforts shall be made on the development of modern service sectors regarding culture, exhibition and innovation, and the development of outsourcing service shall be quickened. We shall make more endeavors to integrate regional financial resources, considerably improve corporate governance of local corporate bank institutions, and encourage shareholding commercial banks and foreign-invested banks to set up branches in the western area. Efforts shall be made to improve the financing guarantee system for medium and small-sized enterprises, promote the development of new rural financial institutions such as village banks and town banks, and expand the coverage of small-amount loans to farmers in the western area.