[Explanation] Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council formally announced the "Opinions on Promoting High-quality Development in the Central Region in the New Era" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").

The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the 13th. Cong Liang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced that in the first half of this year, the total economic volume of the central region reached 11.8 trillion yuan, which played a key role in supporting the steady development of China's economy.

　　[Concurrent] Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission

　　During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual economic growth of the central region reached 8.6%, ranking first among the four major sectors in the east, central, west, and northeast, especially from the third quarter of 2017 to the end of 2019, for 10 consecutive years. The economic growth rate in this quarter led the four major sectors of the Chinese economy.

In 2020, the central region will carry 25.8% of the country’s population and contribute 22% of the country’s GDP with 10.7% of the country’s land area.

In the first half of this year, the total economic volume of the central region (11.8 trillion yuan), calculated at comparable prices, increased by 14.7% (year-on-year), exceeding the national average growth rate by 2 percentage points.

　　[Explanation] Cong Liang said that there is currently a gap in the level of development among the six central provinces. The inter-provincial cooperation and linkage are not close enough, and the overall strength needs to be further improved.

　　[Concurrent] Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission

　　There is indeed a certain gap in the level of development between the six provinces. For example, Hubei, where the per capita GDP is relatively high, is 1.43 times that of Shanxi, where the per capita GDP is slightly lower. The inter-provincial cooperation and linkage are not close enough, especially in urbanization. The rate is about 6 percentage points lower than the national average, and the overall strength needs to be further improved.

Promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas and regions and forming a new pattern of coordinated development is the proper meaning of promoting the rise of the central region, and it is also the key task of promoting the high-quality development of the central region in the next step.

　　[Explanation] Cong Liang introduced that the "Opinions" adhere to the principles of overall planning and integration of far and near, and put forward requirements in accordance with the two time nodes of 2025 and 2035.

　　[Concurrent] Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission

　　First, by 2025, breakthroughs will be made in the quality, efficiency, and power reforms in the central region, and the overall strength, endogenous power and competitiveness will be further enhanced.

This mainly considers that 2025 is the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and clarifying the goal of this time node is conducive to testing the phased results of the high-quality development of the central region.

The second time point is that by 2035, the central region will basically realize socialist modernization and achieve more obvious substantive progress in common prosperity.

This main consideration corresponds to the "two-step" strategy proposed by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the (time) node of my country's basic realization of socialist modernization.

　　Dong Zeyu reports from Beijing

Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]