Known for its lush natural scenery, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region aims to better benefit from its pristine setting, Lu Xinshe, Party secretary of the region, said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

The only provincial region in China that has both land and maritime connections to ASEAN members, Guangxi has an ample supply of natural resources and a comfortable average year-round temperature of 21 C.

Lu said the concept of ecological civilization has been well established. In 2005, the Communist Party of China Guangxi Committee and the region's government made the decision to build an eco-friendly Guangxi, and in 2013, the "Beautiful Guangxi" Village Development campaign was launched.

"In 2015, a special plan to develop an ecological economy was made and in 2017, reform of the ecological civilization system was announced," he said.

Lu said that the ecological environment has been constantly improved as Guangxi has implemented better protections of its river, lake and forestry resources, and further implemented an action plan to control air, water and soil pollution.

The Xijiang River area has become the first of its kind in China to establish an interaction and coordination mechanism to better prevent and control water pollution. The comprehensive ecological treatment and improvement project of the Nakao River won a China Habitat Environment Example Award.

In 2018, Guangxi's forestry coverage rate stood at 62.37 percent, ranking it third nationwide.

The proportion of days with excellent and/or good weather in Guangxi's urban areas reached 91.6 percent in 2018, with 92.5 percent of drinking water resources for urban consumption up to standard.

"The ecological civilization concept that green mountains and clean rivers are as valuable as gold and silver has been deeply rooted in people's minds," Lu said. "As a result, people's awareness of environmental protection has been notably strengthened."

Guangxi has been committed to viewing the development of the ecological economy as an important approach to transform the development model and accelerate the construction of an ecological civilization.

Lu added that Guangxi's ecological industries have placed priority on developing new energy and clean energy vehicles and developing renewable energy, biomedicines and new materials as well as energy conservation and environmental protection.

"Ecological agriculture should highlight 'the green brand', 'the longevity brand', and 'the selenium-rich brand' in a bid to produce green, selenium-rich and high-quality organic agricultural products," he said.

With a view to turning its ecological advantages into developmental advantages, Guangxi's ecological service industry aims to focus on "the ecology plus" model by actively developing cultural and health-oriented tourism.

"The green development path enjoys ever-brighter prospects," Lu said.