Hubei Provincial Government Highlights Economic Development, Protection Of Yangtze River

China's Hubei provincial government Wednesday highlighted economic development,people's well-being, protection of Yangtze River, technological development, foreign trade, infrastructure improvement and ecological and cultural development

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2019 ) : China's Hubei provincial government Wednesday highlighted economic development,people's well-being, protection of Yangtze River, technological development, foreign trade, infrastructure improvement and ecological and cultural development.

Jiang Chaoliang, secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPC and chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Hubei Province, and Wang Xiaodong, vice secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPC and governor of Hubei briefed the media here about the progress of the province in the past seven decades.

Sharing the achievements in the economic sector last year, they said that the regional GDP reached 3.94 trillion yuan, 215 times more than the 2.45 billion Yuan in 1952 and 53 times more than the 15.1 billion yuan in 1978. The province's regional GDP has ranked 7th nationally since 2016.

For the ecological protection, the quality of water in the Yangtze River across Hubei has remained stable and improved significantly. Eighty-six percent of the water samples were rated as good quality in national water tests.

A total of 115 chemical plants within one kilometer of the Yangtze have been shut down, overhauled, relocated or shifted to other modes of production, thus effectively improving the water quality of the Yangtze River once plagued with chemical plants.

Preliminary outcomes have been achieved in the eco-restoration of the river.

About the regional innovation capacity which has been improved steadily, he said that in 2018, patent applications and patent grants numbered 129,820 and 64,106 respectively, which are five times and 6.

7 times more than those of 2008.

In terms of scientific development, there are 12 national high-tech zones, which ranks fourth nationwide and first in central China.

Reform on democracy and the rule of law has been much accelerated. Hubei was among the first provinces to unveil regulations on performance-based budget management.

Institutional reforms at the provincial level have wrapped up while those at city and county levels have seen dramatic changes. Reforms of the judicial system have been implemented across the board after trials in specific areas, as well as reforms in public security.

They said that foreign trade last year totaled 52.8 billion U.S. Dollars for import and export volume, 643 times that of the year 1953 at 82 million U.S. dollars, and 304 times that of the year 1978 at 173 million U.S. dollars. A total of 283 of the Fortune 500 enterprises have set up offices in the province, also ranking first in the central region.

By the end of last year, enterprises from Hubei Province had established more than 700 businesses and institutions overseas.

The volume of overseas contracted engineering projects held steady among the top provinces in the country, with newly-signed contracts and completed turnover rising from 7.27 billion U.S. dollars and 4.56 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to 14.88 billion U.S. dollars and 6.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 respectively, they concluded.