Nation to expand East-West program

China will expand and upgrade its East-West cooperation program by deepening industrial partnerships and broadening county-level assistance ties during a new stage of regular support, five years after its victory over extreme poverty, agriculture and rural affairs authorities said on Thursday.

Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Maierdan Mugaiti said China will maintain fixed assistance partnerships between eight eastern provincial-level regions and 10 western counterparts. Economically stronger county-level regions in the east will be paired with key counties in western regions, achieving full coverage of targeted assistance partnerships.

"The cooperation will continue to combine the needs of western regions with the strengths of eastern regions," Maierdan said.

He said industrial cooperation and other development-oriented measures will remain central to efforts aimed at strengthening endogenous growth.

In recent years, China has launched initiatives to upgrade specialty industries and promote the full-chain development of leading industries in western regions, accelerating industrial transfers from east to west and jointly building industrial parks.

For instance, cooperation between Beijing and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has helped develop eight major agricultural and livestock industry chains, including beef cattle, dairy, cashmere, potatoes and soybeans. The partnership has supported the establishment of more than 600 green agricultural production and processing bases, boosting local development while strengthening food supplies for the capital.

Across western regions, partners have jointly developed 35 rural tourism routes and supported the construction of more than 1,500 livable and business-friendly villages. The tourism routes attracted more than 9.59 million visitors from Tianjin and Shandong province to Gansu province in 2025, an increase of nearly 700,000 from the previous year, Maierdan said.

Officials highlighted cooperation between Fujian province and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region as one of the most successful examples of the East-West cooperation program.

Wang Jian, head of the region's department of agriculture and rural affairs, said the partnership helped Ningxia eliminate extreme poverty and lay the foundation for long-term development.

"Farmers' annual per capita income in Ningxia increased from about 1,400 yuan ($206) in 1996 to more than 20,000 yuan in 2025," Wang said.

Fujian has invested a cumulative 7.68 billion yuan in assistance funds and helped develop key industries, including wine, goji berries, dairy products, beef cattle and vegetables.

The two regions are now cooperating in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence computing, digital infrastructure and green energy, Wang added.

Chen Mingwang, director of the Fujian Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the province will focus on upgrading Fujian-Ningxia cooperation.

Future efforts will focus on improving industrial parks, attracting leading enterprises to strengthen industrial clusters, expanding data infrastructure projects and exploring cooperation in the digital economy, carbon trading and saline-alkaline land management.

The two regions will also leverage Fujian's position on the Maritime Silk Road and Ningxia's role as a key inland logistics hub to develop land-sea transportation links and explore new opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative, Chen said.

zhaoyimeng@chinadaily.com.cn