Shandong-Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Pairing-off Poverty Alleviation

　　【Overview】 Shandong Province is twinned with Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to as "Xinjiang") in poverty alleviation. Under the leadership of the party committees and governments of the two sides, based on the scientific concept of development, Shandong and Xinjiang implemented the instructions of the central government on strengthening the East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation and achieved remarkable achievements in pairing-off poverty alleviation and economic cooperation through joint efforts of the twinned prefectures, cities and departments as well as all circles of society. In 2009, Shandong helped Xinjiang construct 39 projects and 52 economic cooperation projects and provided aiding funds of 1.574 billion Yuan, of which 75.80 million Yuan was grant.

　　In 2009, more than 30 department-level leaders successively headed delegations to visit Kashi, gave instructions to the pairing-off poverty alleviation and negotiated with them on the trade and economic cooperation. They successively received 10 batches of Kashi’s return visitors from the party and government departments and invited them to participate in the inland trade fairs an investment fairs. They subsidized the twinned regions to carry out a series of activities such as trade fairs, investment promotion, culture publicity and tourism promotion activities in Shandong, which further strengthened their economic cooperation. The twinned departments, cities and counties have kept frequent exchanges of visits and contacts with each other and their exchanges and cooperation show a good trend. It has promoted the traditional friendship between the people of the two sides and laid a solid foundation for them to explore new areas, seek new achievements and create a new situation for the pairing-off poverty alleviation.

　　【Construction of agricultural standardization demonstration bases】In accordance with the requirements of agricultural standardization, Shandong Province invested assistance funds to help Kashgar, Yuepu Lake and Yingjisha build six agricultural standardization demonstration bases to strive for national support and create the brand with local characteristics. The State Committee for Standardization has identified the dates, facility vegetables and melon of Shule County, the melon and fennel of Dawakun Desert of Yuepuhu County and the Semai apricot of Yingjisha County as the national agricultural standardization demonstration projects.

　　Meanwhile, it implemented agricultural science and technology demonstration projects in Yingjisha County, invested for the construction of 1333-hectare modern agricultural demonstration park integrating vegetable breeding, fruit growing, fish farming and practical technical training, completed the soil excavation for the freshwater aquaculture area, fruit tree planting pits, grape planting ditches and green belt and the road surface hardening for the central area of the park, and successfully launched the new technologies for winter geothermal hot nursery, nutrition bowl winter nursery, grafted seedlings and straw bio-reactors, etc. On April 5, 2009, Politburo member, Xinjiang Party Secretary Wang Lequan personally visited the demonstration garden and demanded to promote the technologies in the whole region.

　　【Construction of industrial park】 In 2009, Shandong Province invested 30 million Yuan of aiding funds respectively for the construction of Liqu Logistic Park of Shule County and the industrial parks of Yingjisha and Yuepuhu, of which 20 million Yuan was invested for the construction of Qilu Logistic Park integrating transportation, storage, packaging, logistic, processing and distribution, four roads in the park with a total length of 7.01 kilometers and a width of 12-16 meters, water drainage and lighting facilities, etc. Currently, the starting area of the 360-hectare processing zone and 350-hectare storage and logistics area has been built and put into use. Aiding fund of 5 million Yuan was invested for the construction of a 2500-square meter comprehensive service building and a 1.1-kilometer water supply pipeline in Luying Industrial Park of Yingjisha County, and 5 million Yuan of aiding fund was invested to build six standardized industrial plants with a total area of 6480 square meters and other related facilities in “Taiyue Industrial Park” of Yuepuhu County. Relying on Nanjiang Qilu Industrial Park, Logistic Park, Luying Industrial Park and Taiyue Industrial Park, the recipient counties strived to develop park economy and successively attracted 120 domestic and foreign enterprises to the park with a total investment of 6 billion Yuan, forming featured pillar industries like deep processing, cotton spinning, building material and medicine. As of the end of 2009, a total of 94 enterprises had launched projects in Nanjiang Qilu Industrial Park of Shule County and 65 of them had started the production and operation. The planned total investment was 5.1 billion Yuan and 1.5 billion Yuan of fixed asset investment had been issued. Nearly 4000 people got jobs in the park. In 2009, the county’s GDP reached 3.22 billion Yuan, social fixed asset investment was 2.34 billion Yuan, local general budget revenue amounted to 64.58 million Yuan and the total retail sales of social commodities reached 410 million Yuan, respectively up 28.2%, 30%, 26% and 25% compared with 2008, and there was an increase of more than 500 Yuan in farmers' per capita net income. In June, Politburo Standing Committee Member and Vice President Xi Jinping visited Shule County and affirmed the results of the pilot projects for construction-aid of Xinjiang; on June 22, Organization Department of Xinjiang Autonomous Region Party Committee held the Work Conference in Kashgar for the sixth batch of cadres to support poverty alleviation in Xinjiang and visited the work site in Shule County.

　　【Poverty alleviation by enterprises】In June 2009, Shandong organized a provincial economic and trade delegation composed of 670 members from 168 central organs in Shandong and provincial enterprises in 9 cities of the province to attend the fifth Kashgar Central and South Asia Commodity Fair in Xinjiang. 146 booths were set at the fair and there were a total of 12 categories of exhibits, including machinery, building materials, textiles, petrochemicals, agricultural products, etc. At the "Signing Ceremony for Shandong’s Counterpart Fund Donation and the Economic and Trade Cooperation", 30 companies were selected to sign the economic and trade cooperation agreements with domestic and overseas enterprises including that in Xinjiang. A total of 30 contracts were signed, worth 4.577 billion Yuan, including 22 project investment cooperation agreements worth 3.573 billion Yuan. The Kashgar Central and South Asia Commodity Fair that Shandong delegation attended this time hit a record high in many aspects, including the number of participants, exhibition scale, number of products on display, results of display, turnover and economic and trade cooperation achievements. At the same time, giving play to the role of the cadres for Xinjiang aiding, they headed delegations to participate in the Urumqi Fair, Canton Fair and Xiamen fair to invite merchants and investment, and actively attracted the inland enterprises to invest and launch businesses in Kashgar. In July, it had signed cooperation contracts with 84 mainland enterprises and three counties twinned with Shandong in poverty reduction, and strived for 1.574 billion Yuan already.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】In 2009, according to the pro-poor policies issued by the central government and the requirements of “sincerely doing practical things and seeking practical results” of the provincial government, taking the development of social welfare undertakings and the improvement of the production and living conditions of the people in poor areas as an important benchmark for inspection of the aid work for Xinjiang, Shandong Province did a lot of practical things and good things for minorities. Of the sixth batch of 19 key projects determined by Shandong Province for the construction of Xinjiang, 11 were livelihood-related projects, including drought resisting drinking water projects, anti-seismic building projects, village clinics, bilingual kindergartens, solar power generation in the villages without electricity, labor skills training center , mass cultural and sports facilities construction, etc.

　　【Demonstration project of new rural construction】According to the requirements of the “entire village advancement” program for poverty alleviation, they innovated the ideas and raised funds from various sources to support new rural construction. In the twinned regions Kashi and Hetian, new rural construction was launched with rural economic development and the improvement of living conditions of the masses as the main content. To support Shule County’s “three ten thousand Yuan” projects to increase farmers’ income, Shandong invested 16 million Yuan to combine the building of anti-seismic houses with the development of village economy, which not only solved the house safety problem of the masses, but also mobilized the enthusiasm of the masses for economic development to increase income and get rich. As of the end of 2009, 110 houses were built, which was welcomed by local people. In Yuepuhu County, Shandong launched the "Light Project" to install solar power generation equipment for 100 households without electricity, which solved the lighting, radio and TV problem of the masses.

　　【Poverty alleviation by training】In 2009, Shule County Labor Employment Training and Labor Transfer Service Center and Yuepuhu County Rural Labor Skills Training Base, which were constructed with aiding funds of 15.4 million Yuan from Shandong, carried out rural labor language and practical skills trainings to meet the employment requirements of the enterprises in the park, and trained and recommended 6300 Wei people to get jobs in local area, which increased the income of local farmers.

　　【Poverty alleviation by education and medical service】 Shandong Province invested 7 million Yuan to promote the development of basic education and Wei-Han bilingual development. It newly built and repaired 6 primary and secondary schools, helped “Bayi” Middle School of Shule County and Yingjisha County Central Bilingual Kindergarten to expand the recruitment of minority students and improve teaching conditions; strived for the support of Shandong Provincial Department of Education, it coordinated with the universities in Shandong to recruit 100 undergraduate students from Kashi every year; giving play to the role of the teachers for aiding Xinjiang, it helped local young teachers change teaching ideas and improve the quality of teaching. In 2009, the teachers for aiding Xinjiang successively gave 192 lectures and demonstration classes and held 159 academic seminars and exchanges. The doctors for aiding Xinjiang carried out technological exchanges and research project tackling activities based on clinical practices, diagnosis and treatment of common diseases, basic principles of operations and key technologies. In 2009, the doctors conducted 4,456 surgeries and 120 academic exchanges, and 50 technologies filled local gap. Meanwhile, it coordinated with Shandong Province Science Association and the health sector to send a 10-member medical team to provide free medical services in Kashi and organized the doctors for aiding Xinjiang to regularly carry out medical service activities in rural areas. In 2009, 1,100 people received their free medical services.

　　【Pairing-off poverty alleviation by cadres for aiding Xinjiang】Shulu County, Kashi of Xinjiang is a county-level secretary pilot county twinned with Shandong in poverty alleviation. In 2009, ten county party committee and government leaders of Shandong were sent to act as the commander of Shule County and key departments. With support of local cadres, they visited the villages and rural households for investigation. According to the ideology of “long-term plan, laying a basis, early planning and quick implementation” and the principle of “doing the best”, they put forward the overall plan to make Shule County a "logistics distribution center, industry cluster, Kashi's satellite city and sub-economic and cultural center", continued to implement the five strategies of developing the county by agriculture and boosting its development by science and technology, the development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industry, industrial development and urban construction, accelerated the transformation of economic development models and adjusted and optimized the economic structure to achieve the synchronous improvement of the speed, quality and efficiency, create a "powerful, vibrant, charming and harmonious Shule” and make Shule a modern livable ecological city, cultural city and charming city suitable with a wide range of functions, good ecological conditions, beautiful environment and rich culture.

　　The cadres for aiding Xinjiang played a leading role in the maintenance of social stability, especially after the Urumqi "7.5" vandalism burning incident of serious violent crime, all the cadres resolutely implemented the instruction of the central government and the deployments of Xinjiang party committee and government, worked with local cadres to stick to their posts, develop work plans to control potential problems and handle emergencies, and firmly devoted to the anti-separatist struggle to maintain stability in border areas, national unity and reunification of the motherland, setting a good image of Shandong’s cadres for aiding Xinjiang.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology】The government organized the science and technology departments of Shandong Province to sign 35 technology cooperation projects with Kashi and organize more than 400 technical trainings for 38755 local people, and arranged 20 technical persons of Xinjiang to study in Shandong. In twinning assistance, it guided and organized ten economically strong counties (cities, districts) of Shandong to help ten national poor counties of Xinjiang. Focusing on poverty alleviation and development, based on the construction of socialist new countryside, “three one” helping activities were organized: financing the twinned county to build a well-off demonstration village or a bilingual kindergarten; train a number of backbone technicians for farming and breeding and leaders for becoming rich for the twinned county; and attracting a number of skilled rural labors. Good results have been achieved.

　　【Counterpart support and economic and trade cooperation】To promote the healthy and sustained development of the counterpart support work, focusing on the organic combination of government leadership for pairing-off poverty alleviation and the business market activity of “economic and trade cooperation”, Shandong Province takes advantages of its technical, capital and management strength and the advantages of Xinjiang in resources, location and market to combine the twinning assistance with the Western Development strategy and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between enterprises. According to the progress made in the cooperation projects in 2009, the large number of resource development projects, large amount of investment, highly linkage of industries and strong driving force are the highlights of the mutually beneficial cooperation in 2009. In July, Xinwen Mining Group invested 2 billion Yuan to launch a 10 billion-cubic meter coal gas (Phase I) project to supply natural gas for Xinjiang and East China through the Second West to East Gas Pipeline. After the project construction, the annual sales income will reach 16 billion Yuan and the income taxes will reach 1 billion Yuan, and it will become a demonstration project for Xinjiang to implement resources conversion strategy and for the joint energy development of the two provinces (regions). Shandong Zhaojin Mining Industry Co., Ltd ("Zhaojin Mining"), one of the gold production leading enterprises in China, invested 300 million Yuan in Jiashi County Industrial Park of Xinjiang to construction Phase I Project of the Multi-element Comprehensive Recycling of Refractory Ores. The project was launched in mid-August 2009. After Phase I project was put into production in July 2010, the annual processing capacity will reach 50,000 tons of refractory multi-element mineral raw materials, the production capacity will reach 12,000 tons of copper, 20,000 tons of sulfuric acid, 200 kilograms of gold and 10 tons of silver, the annual sales revenue will reach 500 million Yuan. As a result, there will be an increase of 18 million Yuan in local fiscal revenue and it will solve the employment problems of 300 people and become the first integrated non-ferrous metals recycling project in southern region of Xinjiang featured resource conversion, comprehensive recycling, waste utilization, energy saving and emission reduction. Zhaojin Mining will also invest 500 million Yuan to construct the Phase II project. In addition, it has signed a mineral resource integration cooperation agreement with Tuoli County government in the northern area of Xinjiang and planes to invest 500 million Yuan in three years for exploration and construction. As a result, it will expand the businesses’ mining scale in Tuoli County to 5,000 tons per day and the annual gold production capacity to 2,500 kg. Zhaojin Mining has successively put in 400 million Yuan in this county and constructed a number of technological advanced gold enterprises such as Zhaojin Beijiang Mining and Xingta Smelting to promote the development of local gold resources and boost the economic and social development of local areas. More than 780 enterprises in Shandong have built economic, technological and trading relationship in various forms with Xinjiang. The successful operation of these projects is a good example for the mutually beneficial and sincere cooperation of the two sides.

　　【Measures for East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation】1．Through exchange visits of leaders, the mutually beneficial cooperation is in full swing. Shandong provincial party committee and provincial government attach great importance to the work of aiding Xinjiang and include the development of Xinjiang into the agenda as an important political task. The two sides signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation framework agreement. According to the "Agreement", the two sides will promote the comprehensive cooperation in ten key fields in the future, namely modern agriculture, industry and investment, mineral exploration, energy development, science, technology and culture, education, foreign trade, tourism, human resource development and cooperation, and counterpart support.

　　2．Adhere to scientific concept of development to promote the sound and rapid economic development in recipient regions. Based on the actual situation of low level of industrialization of agriculture, few industrial resources, lack of financial resources and weak self-development capacity of the recipient regions, Shandong province focused on helping the recipient regions to accelerate the development of modern agriculture, improve the investment environment, develop financial resources and create economic growth points, and built a platform to make an "incubator" to boost economic development.

　　3．Promote the development of public welfare in the recipient regions to improve people's livelihood. According to the pro-poor policies issued by the central government and the requirements of “sincerely doing practical things and seeking practical results” of the provincial government, taking the development of social welfare and the improvement of the production and living conditions of the people in poor areas as an important benchmark for inspection of the aid work for Xinjiang, Shandong Province did a lot of practical things and good things for minorities. Of the sixth batch of 19 key projects determined by Shandong Province for the construction of Xinjiang, 11 were livelihood-related projects, including drought resisting drinking water projects, anti-seismic building projects, village clinics, bilingual kindergartens, solar power generation in the villages without electricity, labor skills training center , mass cultural and sports facilities construction, etc.

　　4．Build a new pattern of all-round counterpart support with the cadres for aiding Xinjiang as the core. 2009 is the key year for Xinjiang-aiding work of the sixth batch of cadres. Over the past year, keeping in mind the great trust of the provincial (regional) leadership, aiming at “easing the worries of the people in hometown and satisfying Xinjiang people’, in their respective working positions, the sixth batch of cadres for aiding Xinjiang not only played a role of friendly messengers, but also was a bridge between the two sides. To promote the counterpart support and boost local economic development, they played the leading role and devoted to achieving the goal of enhancing the quality of local cadres and masses, improving the production and living conditions, lifting local people out of poverty, building a good team and a number of friendly relations, constructing a number of projects, fostering a number of backbone cadres and creating a number of achievements.

　　(Shandong Leading Group Office of Pairing-off Poverty Alleviation)