This year marks the 20th anniversary of eastern China’s Fujian Province assisting poverty alleviation in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, by allocating funds, making investments, dispatching human resources, and establishing enterprises.

During the poverty alleviation cooperation conference held by the State Council on May 31, 1996, the Fujian Province was appointed to give assistance to less developed Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China. In October, 1996, a specific leading group led by Xi Jinping, then deputy secretary of CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, was established to take charge of the work.

The cooperation between both parts has yielded remarkable fruits in various fields since then. The Yinchuan-Fuzhou Economic and Trade Cooperation Projects Signing Ceremony, which was held in 1998, witnessed the signing of 18 agreements and an investment flow of 270 million yuan into Ningxia. A medical building with an investment of 1 million yuan from Fujian completed construction in Ningxia in 1999. In 2000, some 100 middle and primary schools in Fujian established partnerships with 100 counterparts in Ningxia.

In 2001, the city of Wuzhong in Ningxia established sister city relations with Quanzhou in Fujian. In 2004, the city of Guyuan sent a delegation to Fujian for investment attraction and the two parts signed six cooperation agreements with the investment totaling 340 million yuan. In 2013, some 19 projects were signed with a total investment of 7.03 billion yuan in Guyuan City, during the One Hundred Fujian Businessmen Visiting Guyuan project promotional activity.

The Minning Town, which was established in Ningxia in 1996, has also witnessed the support from Fujian for 20 years. Some 60,000 peasants have been emigrated from remote mountainous areas into the Minning Town under the support of Fujian. The enterprises introduced from Fujian also created a lot of job opportunities for local people. The per capita annual net income at the town has increased from 500 yuan in 1996 to 10,350 yuan in 2015.

Over the past 20 years, the Fujian Province has selected nine batches of 140 cadres to serve at the Xihaigu District, a severe poverty-stricken area in Ningxia for a two-year term and they have made great contributions to lift people there out of poverty.