With the joint efforts of the local people over the past five years, Sichuan successfully accomplished its Ninth Five-Year Plan goals. In 2000, it accomplished an annual GDP of 401 billion yuan (about US$ 50 billion), an increase of 9 percent over 1999. The average annual GDP per capita was 4,780 yuan (about US$ 597), indicating a high degree of improvement in living standards of local people.

Infrastructure projects, such as transportation, telecommunications, energy and water conservancy have been accomplished over the past five years, thereby easing Sichuan's economic restrictions, and providing a foundation for formulating and implementing its Tenth Five-Year Plan.

Implementation of the Western Development strategy provides a rare historical opportunity for the development of our province," said Governor Zhang Zhongwei. Last year "What Sichuan should do within Western Development" was discussed in Sichuan. The provincial government carried out research into the local situation and collected ideas from the masses before compiling The Tenth Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of Sichuan Province.

The document sets out Sichuan's intended development path for the first five years of the 21st century: to build Sichuan into an economically powerful province, and make it an ecological screen on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The governor, born and bred in Sichuan, knows his province thoroughly. He considers Western Development as both an opportunity and an arena for fierce competition among provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of Western China. He is all too aware that if Sichuan does not develop quickly, it will be left behind.

During the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period, Sichuan will accelerate its development of agriculture, the information industry, hydraulic electric power, machinery-building and metallurgy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, soft drinks and foodstuffs and tourism. It will build eight industrial bases to develop heavy equipment and produce traditional Chinese medicine.

As regards historical, cultural and ecological protection, Sichuan plans to develop the Wolong Panda Park and other scenic spots, and to construct the associated facilities, transforming Sichuan from a province known mainly for its tourism resources to one strong in both economic and tourism potential.

Governor Zhang Zhongwei asserted that in order to ensure Sichuan Province's stride during the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the provincial government will strengthen its fight against corruption and enforce the formulation of a clean and honest government with high working efficiency, so as to better serve the interests of the local people.

Mei Er