Venue of Hailan River Rural Revitalization Forum

Venue of Hailan River Rural Revitalization Forum

On November 21, Hailan River Rural Revitalization Forum which was co-hosted by the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council (COSC) and the National Rural Revitalization Administration and co-organized by the Counsellors’ Office of Jilin Provincial People’s Government and Longjing Municipal People’s Government was held in Longjing City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, with a view to studying, publicizing and implementing the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s observations on the efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers and his important speeches on advancing rural revitalization across the board. Gao Yu, Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of the COSC, Liu Huanxin, Secretary of Party Leadership Group and Administrator of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, and Han Fuchun, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Governor of Jilin Provincial People’s Government addressed the forum. Hu Jiafu, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Jilin Provincial Committee and Secretary of CPC Yanbian Prefecture Committee attended the forum. Zhao Bing, member of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of the COSC presided over the opening ceremony. Du Ying, former Counsellor of the State Council, Yu Kangzhen and Lin Yifu, Counsellors of the State Council, and Wei Houkai, Director of Rural Development Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences delivered a keynote speech respectively. Xian Zude, He Defang, Zhen Zhen and Tang Min, Counsellors of the State Council hosted and participated in discussions on relevant topics. Officials of relevant departments of the State Council, government counsellors, and representatives of industry-university-research cooperation and think tanks attended the forum.

Gao Yu, Chairman of the COSC, delivered a speech at the forum

Gao pointed out that the forum was aimed at further studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, carrying out the instructions of the CPC Central Committee on advancing rural revitalization across the board and stepping up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, so as to build consensus and pool strength for our efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers in the new era and on the new journey and advancing rural revitalization across the board. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress draws a strategic blueprint for building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. On the new journey of Chinese modernization, we must further study and implement the decisions and instructions of the 20th CPC National Congress, navigate the landscape of the efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers in the new era and on the new journey, conduct in-depth research and offer pragmatic suggestions to help promote the revitalization of rural industries, talents, culture, ecology and organizations, promote rural development, rural construction and rural governance in an orderly manner, and advance rural revitalization across the board to achieve new progress and new results.

Liu Huanxin, Administrator of the National Rural Revitalization Administration, delivered a speech at the forum

Liu pointed out that to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation achievements and advancing rural revitalization across the board, and the decisions and instructions of the CPC Central Committee, we should focus on priority tasks such as helping areas and people that have just shaken off poverty build their own momentum for growth, and building beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in. Vigorous efforts should be made to strengthen planning and implement policies, so as to promote the consolidation of poverty alleviation achievements on a higher level and the effective rural revitalization. It should be taken as a fundamental initiative to increase the income of the people who have been lifted out of poverty, and continue to narrow the income gap. Focus should be put on promoting the accelerated development of the counties which have been lifted out of poverty, so as to continuously narrow the development gap. Solid progress should be made in promoting rural construction, with a view to gradually making the rural areas basically equipped with modern living conditions. Rural governance should be strengthened and improved to make the rural society both vibrant and harmonious.

Han Fuchun, Vice Governor of Jilin Province, delivered a speech at the forum

Han said that Jilin was a large agricultural province and an important battleground for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. In recent years, the whole province has been thoroughly implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and instructions during his inspection tour to Jilin. Adhering to the strategy of rural revitalization as the guideline, focusing on the high-quality development of agriculture, striving to be the pacesetter in the development of modern agriculture, the province has achieved remarkable results in promoting the efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and wellbeing of farmers and stepped up the progress of rural revitalization in the province. Jilin hopes to take advantage of this grand gathering to generate the “think tank” effect and pool fruits of wisdom, so as to expand the vision and ideas and provide a broader path for advancing rural revitalization across the board.

Du Ying, former Counsellor of the State Council, delivered a keynote speech

Du said that advancing rural revitalization across the board was the key to our efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas and the wellbeing of farmers in the new era. Firstly, we should focus on consolidating the foundation of food security, extending the agricultural industry chain, actively developing new rural business models and promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Secondly, we should endeavor to break the bottlenecks in the factors of “people, land and funds” by reforming, make full use of policies in strengthening the support of talents, securing land supply, strengthening financial support and other aspects, and step up the efforts in reform. Thirdly, we should consolidate and expand the poverty alleviation achievements, and do a good job in coordinating policies for poverty alleviation and assistance and those for rural revitalization.

Yu Kangzhen, Counsellor of the State Council, delivered a keynote speech

Yu pointed out that industry revitalization was the top priority for rural revitalization, and we should deeply understand the significance of rural revitalization, have an accurate understanding of the historic orientation of rural revitalization, and accelerate the exploration of the approach to rural revitalization. Firstly, we should choose the right leading industry in the regional context based on the regional advantageous resources and basic conditions; secondly, pool resources to build a good platform for development; thirdly, promote the development of industrial players based on classification; fourthly, clear the blockages to strengthen support of such factors as people, land, and funds; and fifthly, give full play to the principal role of farmers.

Lin Yifu, Counsellor of the State Council, delivered a keynote speech (video)

Lin said that the foundation and key to advancing rural revitalization across the board was to achieve industrial prosperity. We should firstly develop advantageous industrial clusters and provide high-quality products and services; secondly give full play to the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs, with the government fulfilling its duties and responsibilities; and thirdly ensure strict adherence to the red line for the protection of arable land, raise food prices and ensure food security.

Wei Houkai, Director of Rural Development Institute of

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a keynote speech

Wei Houkai said that it was a long-term arduous task to step up the building up of agricultural strength, which should be steadily promoted in stages based on different industries. Importance should be attached to consolidating the foundation of food security, addressing weaknesses in technical equipment and scale, unifying the building up of agricultural strength with the building of a beautiful and harmonious countryside, paying attention to the exploration, protection, utilization and innovation of fine traditional rural culture, and building a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in.

Zhao Bing, Vice Chairman of the COSC, presided over the opening ceremony

The forum focused on the theme of advancing rural revitalization across the board, with dialogues and exchanges on four topics: industry revitalization, rural development, rural governance and social support.

Topic 1: Industry Revitalization

With regard to industry revitalization, it was proposed that the key to rural revitalization was industry revitalization, and the revitalization of agriculture should focus on improving the level of standardization of the production system, the level of integration of the industrial systems and the level of organization of the operation system. Special attention should be given to introducing and cultivating professional talents, improving the scientific and technological literacy of farmers and the level of agricultural science and technology, incubating new agricultural business entities, and promoting the continuous improvement of the development of agricultural modernization.

Topic 2: Rural Development

It was proposed at the seminar that rural development was a long-term and complex undertaking. Efforts should be made to establish a sound implementation mechanism, to give full play to the enthusiasm of farmers and villages, to effectively promote the construction of rural infrastructure, to promote effective coordination between consolidating and expanding the poverty alleviation achievements in transportation and rural revitalization, to include major initiatives and projects into relevant planning, to coordinate the construction of railway and highway facilities, and to improve the governance of rural human settlement environment.

Topic 3: Rural Governance

It was proposed at the seminar that the key to speeding up the modernization of rural governance system and governance capacity was to attract rural governance talents through multiple channels and train them in multiple ways, to promote the revitalization of rural organizations, and to exert the important and positive role of rural governance in effectively resolving farmers’ conflicts, providing public services in a better way and developing new models of rural collective economy.

Topic 4: Social Support

Regarding social support, it was proposed at the seminar that social support played a unique role in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. The main providers of social support should contribute new wisdom in helping areas and people that have just shaken off poverty build their own momentum for growth, mobilize private enterprises and social organizations to make contributions to rural revitalization, and pay full attention to the sustainability and construction of long-acting mechanisms for social support.

During the preparations for the Forum, the COSC organized counsellors at various levels across the country to carry out special studies, producing more than 40 research reports. Leaders in charge of government counsellors’ offices and government counsellors from all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, provincial capitals and prefecture-level cities attended the forum via live webcast.