Mr. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Accelerating Western development, along with speeding up regional development in central and western China, is a major strategy for China's modernization, as well as an important step towards fulfilling the third strategic target proposed by the Chinese Government. Just moment ago, a remarkable speech delivered by the Vice Premier, Mr. Wen Jiabao, fully underlines the significance of this strategy, and th e steps taken for its implementation approved by the Chinese Government. Remarks by several deputy chairpersons of the China Council have further highlighted thi s issue.
It is well known that China's west, given the features of the vast territory, abun dant natural resources, low population density and less economic activity, has att racted a great attention. Not only China, but also the whole world has recognized the huge potential for commercial opportunities and development chances. The Chin a Council has taken the decision to address environmental protection and western development as the main themes at this meeting, and this gives, without a doubt, an activ e response to the Chinese Government. It is our firm belief that experience and l essons learnt from other countries with regard to their approach to regional dev elopment and coordination must be of great value for our western development pra ctice. Hereby, on behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology, I warmly welcom e you for participation at this meeting.
At the beginning of the 21st Century, China has entered a new stage for construct ion of a full-scale well-off society, allowing us to further accelerate the motiv ation for development. In the case of development of west China, we must continue to carry out strategies of "revitalizing China by advancement of Science and Te chnology" and "sustainable development", and to coordinate the regional developm e nt of the economy, society and environment. Ultimately this approach will ensure to further reduce the disparity between the east and west China. We are fully awar e that western development requires huge systematic engineering project in which the advancement of science and technology plays an important role. Therefore th e development of technology innovation and education in western China has been g iven a position of high priority by the Chinese Government. As a result, the guide line of western development is that "science and technology must adopt a pionee r role leading the development".
In order to have science and technology taking the lead and support the western deve lopment, we will focus on the following four aspects during the implementation:
1. Formulation of scientific master plans suited for western social and economic development and as well the need for ecological restoration
It is our need to formulate a master plan on science and technology development in the west of China, based upon scientific analysis of the constraints and chall enges, advantages and disadvantages. The master plan will fully respect the perspe ctives for economic and social development in the future as well as the impacts on the eco-system if such development is taken into account. The master plan shou ld comprise three working levels. The first is to conduct a study on formulating an overall plan for science and technology development in the west. This will in volve expertise to carry out an in-depth investigation and survey in western pro vinces and autonomous regions. The outcome of such an investigation will include the selection of science and technology for the establishment of specified indus tries that are suited to local conditions and beneficial to the construction of eco-systems. It should also reflect the major scientific task force and measures to be taken in the "Tenth Five-Year Plan, and provide strategies and policies fo r the elaboration of guidelines for science and technology development in the we st. The second is to formulate provincial or regional scientific plans based upon eco-classifications. Such a plan should be suited to certain types of eco-enviro nment, respecting local conditions and proposing schemes for options of industria lization and eco-system improvement. The third level of the plan is to involve th e construction of comprehensive demonstration sites and pilots that will functio n as show cases for the technologies to be disseminated in a broad sense.
In the meantime, the three levels of plans must leave the space for flexible coor dination crossing regions and river basins. Of course, the plans should be feasibl e and operable in practice as the blueprint for macro-level of guidelines for sc ience and technology advancement, and transparent in taking suggestions and comments.
2. Focusing on water resources and improving the eco-environment in the west by technology innovation
It is the reality that west China is vulnerable to the damage of eco-systems. Gre ater regional disparities cause different types of ecological challenges. In the case of the Yellow River Basin, the upper reaches encounter soil erosion as the m ain problem, whereas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, environmental prob lems are caused by timber logging and overgrazing. The situation is different in northwest China where overfarming and overexploitation of natural resources hav e been detrimental to the environment and additionally exacerbated the effects o f frequently occurring sandstorms. In order to tackle different ecological proble ms, therefore we must find appropriate countermeasures. which can be applied with feasible technologies on a large scale. Such countermeasures should also respect the efforts made by the local people to get rid of poverty and to generate more incomes. It is this dual responsibility that we are facing now for our science an d technology advancement.
West China suffers from an extreme shortage of water supply. Representing a total of 70. 1% of the country's territory, west China is only able to produce 27. 1% of the whole contribution to water supply. Therefore one of the key issues is to se cure sufficient water through eco-restoration.
In the period of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan", the Ministry of Science and Technol ogy organized a project to investigate " water resources in the west of China a nd options for utilization and ecological restoration". This project provided an opportunity to conduct a thorough survey on the status of water resources and their availability for use. In parallel to the investigation, a proposal for ratio nal management of water resources was also worked out , according to the water ge neration and use-load in the local area. The project has delivered the clear mess age that one-third of the water supply must be secured for ecological applicatio n, since building a water efficient economy is the fundamental strategy for any a ction taken in the western development. This project has provided us a vision of how to realize sustainability in the west of China, and has defined a solid base to find a way of solving the conflict between economic development and the short age of water yield. In the "Tenth Five-Year"period, we will continue the study o n water resources and rational water sharing for different uses. Only the water u se under safe management can realize a steady development in the western economy .
In the western regions, agriculture occupies a high proportion in the production structure, thereby using water amounting to over 90% of the total water that is u sed. However, there is a great potential for research and production of suitable water saving equipment.
Demonstration engineering projects have shown that water efficiency in agricultu re production can save substantial amounts of water resources. Dissemination of s uch technology in a complete product set, along with appropriate water mana gement skills in the dryland, has undoubtedly the potential for enormous economic returns. Such a technology will assist our western development in havin g further industrialization based on high efficiency in water use.
In the process of enforcing the logging ban in primary forests, and returning slo pe land to forests, new difficulties have appeared requiring the search for a bal ance of economic development in mountainous areas, large-scaled agriculture and t he conservation of eco-system. In this regard, the Ministry of Science and Technolog y has requested several relevant provinces and autonomous regions to investigate the restoration of eco-systems in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In lin with the requirements of the National Plan on Ecological Environment Restoratio n approved by the Chinese Government, we can manage to integrate approved technol ogy into a comprehensive production framework. By incorporating preferential poli cies and choosing suitable demonstration sites, new economic growth options can b e created based on forming specified industries such as eco-tourism, green food, s pecial plants for industrial purposes, etc. Such industry will not only increase t he income for local people, but also protect the sustainability in the same area .
3. Taking the advantage of natural resources combined with local conditions todevelop an economy with special features, and restructure its productivity
West China has unique features in landscape and natural resources. Nowadays the globalization of the economy will not lead to a repetition of the same market situation as compared to east China with its booming economy in the early stages of the opening-up phase. The west of China must rely on the privilege of abundant n atural resources, and have its industries built on a kind of production with spec ial features, such as fruit industry, manufacturing Chinese herbs and special plants, and production on pastures. In order to form an appropriate network for the dissemination of technologies, it will be necessary to introduce a model of "company-technology-production base-households" for establishing a line of comprehensive production. In this model, companies shall be responsible for the availability of funds for the construction of a production base, and research institutions shall bring suitable technological solutions merging with funds and local labor.
Such a production line shall combine processing and marketing to form entire commercial network. The advantage of the model is approved to expand the product ion for value-added, and reuse of resources. In the meantime, farmers found opportu nity to increase income through ecological improvement. This is what we call a Ch inese experience "to transform the advantage of abundant natural resources into the advantage of empowering economic development".
In parallel to the transformation. our economic structure will undergo further ad justments. A success story is the Guangxia(Yingchuan) Co. Ltd. whose business lies in the control of desertification and development of special products. Starting f rom 1995, Guangxia(Yingchuan) Co. Ltd. managed to use available technologies to pla nt trees and special herbs in the desert area. Through their endeavors, more than 2 million trees have been planted on the 2000 desert dunes. 1, 500 hectares of des ert were changed into a place producing high quality of Chinese medicine. Further effort is also made by Guangxia(Yingchuan)Co. Ltd. to cultivate 1, 000 hectares of vineyards on the flank of the eastern Helan Mountains where a grape wine produc tion line was installed. The advantage of using local conditions, such as long ti m e of sunshine, dry climate and differences in temperature between day and night h as resulted in a very competitive quality of wine. Farmers in three years have al so benefited from this industry gaining an income over 80 million yuan.
4. S & T capacity building for the west
It is apparent that in the west China, the capacity for S & T is rather weak. In 12 provinces and autonomous regions, the number of professionals is only 27. 1% of the country's total. Similarly, the input for R & D is also low, only 19. 8% as com pared to the whole country. Relatively low R & D input is also reflected in the n umber of patent applications, which only amount to 13. 8%. The number of research p apers and publications which can be cited for SCI reference is even lower, down a t 9. 9%. The phenomenon becomes also evident in the numbers of state level laborat ories, only 15. 3%, and the research centers for engineering, 12. 5%. This shows clear ly that there is a notable difference in the levels of development of science an d technology compared to other regions in China.
Analyzing the S & T levels in comparison with the order of development, we can conclude that there are three types of regions in the west of China. The first type has a low development of both S & T and the overall economy. Such areas include provinces and autonomous regions like Guizhou, Ningxia, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjia ng, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi. The second type shows a low degree of S & T develo pment on the one hand but a far better financial capability. Such a place is the Yunnan Province. The third type is strong in S & T, but weak in economic terms, suc h as Sichuan, Shangxi and Chongqing. It turns out that these provinces have a high potential and capability in certain areas of S & T innovation. Considering the r egional imbalances, we will need to develop differentiated policies suited to the conditions of regions.
Further action shall be taken in the western development to strengthen S & T cap acity for economic development with the objective to make S & T advancement comp atible with economic prosperity. In this regard, the central government has raised the financial input to increase the number of state laboratories, engineering ce nters, S & T networks and R & D incubators. In addition, a special effort has been made by various government sectors to increase the input in building S & T demon stration sites on ecological restoration. Regarding fundraising and project ident ification, it is our intention to give support to those projects suitable to be r ealized in west China. We believe that thorough feasible policies and investment incentives, the S & T capacity in the west China will be greatly enhanced in orde r to fulfil its tasks. The goals will be reached by the exchange of technologies and expertise between east and west, by optimization of resources distribution, by training and science advocacy to the local people, by further increase of educat ion, and finally by deep reform of our S & T systems.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The development of the west of China is a long-term strategic task, and an endeav or that will be undertaken by several generations. It is not only a chance for t he west, but as well an opportunity for the east. Moreover, it widely extends the scope for international collaboration on economic and S & T development. This me eting will further promote cooperation between China and the international commu nities in the fields of environment and development, and will play an active role in making contributions to realize economic, social and environmental sustainabi lity in the west of China.
Finally, I sincerely wish for the success of this meeting.
Thank you for you attention.