January 18, 2010

China's rural areas need more resources

More public resources for China's rural areas are required in order to boost rural and agricultural development.

Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu made the comment during a recent inspection tour to Chengdu.

Relevant departments should promote the industrialisation and agricultural modernisation in rural regions, Hui said.

The interests and rights of farmers should be safeguarded in the process to balance urban and rural development, he added.

Although rural residents comprise more than 70% of China's population, public resources conventionally lean to the better-developed urban areas. This leaves a widening gap between rural and urban areas.

The Central Conference on Rural Work, which concluded in December 2009, promised more efforts to better coordinate urban and rural development, and direct more resources to the vast countryside.