The top legislators in the Yangtze River Delta called for sustained progress of the national strategy during a meeting in Nanjing on Wednesday and Thursday.
The top legislators include Yin Yicui, chairman of the people’s congress of Shanghai, Liang Liming, vice chairman of the people’s congress of Zhejiang, Shen Suli, vice chairman of the people’s congress of Anhui and Chen Zhenning, executive vice chairman of the people’s congress of Jiangsu.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has attached great importance to the development of the Yangtze River Delta, according to a statement released after the meeting.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important instructions for promoting the development of higher quality integration in the Yangtze River Delta, the statement said.
In May this year, the Political Bureau of the Central Party Committee adopted the Outline of the Plan for the Development of the Regional Integration of the Yangtze River Delta, giving the Yangtze River Delta an even more important historical mission, a deeper strategic connotation and a broader stage of practice, the statement said.
This year is the first year for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta into a national strategy, making it all the more important for the people’s congress of the four provincial level regions to adhere to the spirit of the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping as the guide, implement the first meeting of the leading group for promoting the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the gist of the leadership meeting of the Yangtze River Delta so as to promote the implementation of the plan with the annual collaborative key work plan as the starting point, and contribute more legislative wisdom and strength to the higher quality development of the integration in the Yangtze River Delta, said the statement.
Authorities from Shanghai and its three neighboring provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui agreed last June on a three-year action plan for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and nearly a dozen collaborative projects to increase the region's competitiveness on a global scale.
The agreements, signed at the 14th symposium of the main leadership of the Yangtze River Delta, indicated that by 2020, the region aims to become a national demonstration zone for new development concepts, a world-class urban center and an Asia-Pacific gateway for global resource allocation.
Currently, the Yangtze River Delta is China’s richest region per capita, and in 2016 generated a GDP of RMB 17.72 trillion which is about 20 percent of national GDP. It is responsible for one-third of China’s imports and exports, and has a population of about 150 million people – 11 percent of the country’s total.
