Forum of the Development of Jiangsu held at NJU

Published: Oct. 22, 2008

Oct. 21, 2008, the 25th Forum of the Development of Jiangsu was held at NJU. The theme was "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". Secretary Hong Yinxing presided over the forum. Attendants included Liang Baohua, Secretary of the Provincial Party committee of Jiangsu, Luo Jun, Governor of Jiangsu Province, Chen Huanyou, Honorary Director of the Forum of the Development of Jiangsu and leaders from the Jiangsu provincial government and municipal governments of cities in Jiangsu.

Secretary Hong pointed out that the industrialization and urbanization of the province was a favor for solving the problems in agriculture, rural areas and farmers. However, the gap between the urban and rural areas is still widening. The backward mode of production in the countryside cannot meet the demands of farmers. Low incomes limit farmers' consuming power. Their living conditions are inferior to that of city dwellers. To solve this problem, we will have to push forward the modernization of rural areas, narrowing the income gap between the country side and the city, discard the Household Registry System and discriminative policies against farmers to ensure their equal status as citizens.

His suggestion was: 1. choose an agricultural city in Northern Jiangsu as a pilot area for the integration of urban and rural areas; 2. choose an area in Southern Jiangsu as a pilot area for Urban-Rural Coordinated Reform because Southern Jiangsu has taken a leading place in the Land Reform for Rural Residences and thus can be a model for the rest of the province.

Prof. Ma Jiujie from Renmin University of China said that after nearly 30 years of Reform and Opening-up, China has finally come to the problem of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. He thought that the financing problem, which is one of the most urgent problems in rural areas, must be solved in an innovative and down-to-earth manner.

Other speakers included Prof. Li Yueyun from the Nanjing Agricultural University, Ji Jianye, Secretary of the Party committee of Yangzhou, Prof. Zhang Erzheng, Li Yougen and Zheng Zheng from NJU, Wu Peiliang, Director of Jiangsu Agriculture & Forestry Department, Song Linfei, President of Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences, Prof. Jiang Naihua from Yangzhou University and Xia Ming, Director of Department of Land and Resources of Jiangsu Province.