The Investment Promotion Conference for Deepening Collaboration between the Eastern and Western Regions was held in Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou province, on Sept 8.

Wan Yang, assistant representative of the representative office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, said that the cooperation between the eastern and western regions has provided impetus for the eradication of poverty in underdeveloped Chinese regions. "From 1990 to 2015, China contributed to 70 percent to the world’s eradication of poverty," he said.

According to Wan, there still exist huge gaps between China's underdeveloped areas and coastal developed areas, whether it's in business environment, financial capacity or talent reserve. Since 1996, the mode of eastern-western cooperation has effectively accelerated the development of underdeveloped areas in terms of government assistance, enterprise cooperation, social assistance, and talent support.

Taking Guizhou as an example, eight cities and prefectures of the province received assistance from eight eastern cities in project cooperation, industrial development, and talent exchange.

In the first half of 2019, the eight cities brought 455 projects worth 134.9 billion yuan ($19.04 billion) to Guizhou, contributing 18.9 percent of the province's total capital. The poverty-stricken population in Guizhou also decreased from 9.23 million in 2013 to 1.55 million in 2018.

By the end of 2018, there were 16.6 million impoverished people in China's rural areas, and the incidence of poverty was down to 1.7 percent. The country plans to eliminate extreme poverty by the end of 2020, 10 years earlier than the Sustainable Development Goals set by all the United Nations member states.

"The power of sustainable development in China, especially in underdeveloped regions, comes from industries," Wan said. He suggested that underdeveloped regions in China strengthen the cooperation between the eastern and western regions in the fields of special agriculture, recreation, and cultural tourism to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation, as well as promote rural revitalization.

The Investment Promotion Conference for Deepening Collaboration between the Eastern and Western Regions is held in Guiyang on Sept 8. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Zhao Yandi contributed to this story