7. Ensure the development of each region has its own features and coordinates with the development of others

1) Continuing to fully implement the overall strategy for developing different regions. We will step up the formulation of a policy document that prioritizes the large-scale development of the western region, further strengthen infrastructure development, vigorously develop industries that can take advantage of local strengths, and launch a new round of efforts aimed at returning even more marginal farmland to forests and grazing land to grassland. We will issue guidelines on fully revitalizing the Northeast and other old industrial bases. We will holistically upgrade and renovate old industrial bases across the country and old industrial districts in cities, and transform and develop resource-dependent cities and independent industrial and mining areas. We will fully carry out the strategy to promote the rise of the central region; make the region an integrated transport hub and a center for producing grain, energy and raw materials and developing modern equipment manufacturing and new- and high-technology industries; and accelerate development of demonstration zones for industries relocated from the eastern region and industrial parks in the central and western regions. We will encourage the eastern region to develop first; support the building of major platforms such as Qianhai, Nansha, Hengqin and Pingtan; and continue with pilot programs to develop the marine economy.

2) Developing new economic support zones at a faster pace. We will build new economic support zones along the Yangtze River, promote economic integration in the Yangtze River Delta, deepen cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta, and support the integrated development of city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze. We will promote faster growth of the Central Plains Economic Zone, and deepen cooperation between Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and Inner Mongolia. We will coordinate development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and speed up the transformation and upgrading of the Bohai Sea region. We will encourage Yunnan and Guangxi to open to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and support northwestern China in westward opening up.

3) Making underdeveloped regions better able to develop. We will support the leapfrogging of Tibet and Xinjiang, and Tibetan ethnic areas in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai. We will implement policies and programs supporting the revitalization of old revolutionary base areas, continue to implement the plan to help the poor by providing work-relief and relocating those in poverty-stricken areas, support the development of contiguous areas with acute difficulties, and give more pairing assistance to underdeveloped localities. This year, we will lift more than ten million people out of poverty.

4) Speeding up implementation of the functional zoning system. We will improve fiscal, investment, industrial, land, environmental and other support policies and the evaluation system for functional zoning. We will urge provincial-level administrative areas to issue and implement their functional zoning plans. We will launch functional zoning demonstrations.