On Dec. 22, “The Conference on Development--Theory Seminar for “Belt & Road” and Development of Gansu Province(2018)”, jointly hosted by Gansu Provincial Party School(Gansu Institute of Public Administration) and Institute for Economics of Gansu Province( Information Center of Gansu Province), was held in Gansu Provincial Party School(Gansu Institute of Public Administration). Well-known experts and scholars, from Gansu Province and outside, exchanged their ideas on how to make Gansu better integrated into the course of “Belt & Road” construction.

Wang Chengyong, deputy director of Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department suggested that, in the first three quarters of this year, Gansu's foreign trade totaled 29.95 billion yuan, marking a 35.2% growth comparing with the same period last year, and 25.3 higher percentage points than the national growth rate of imports and exports in the same period, within which export tread amounted to 10.55 billion yuan, up by 46%, while import trade reached 19.4 billion yuan, up by 30%. The growth rate of import and export, export and import ranks the second, first and fourth respectively in China. “Belt & Road” is growing into the new driver of Gansu’s high-quality development.

 Wang Rongjun, vice director of Academy of Latin American Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that we had been through a lot in the course of reform and opening up, and nowadays, there were obvious regional competition among different regions. In the next period, we should take regional coordination into consideration, and competition would be more embodied in regional coordination and cooperation, and coordinated development would be achieved in coordinated competition. This could be an opportunity for underdeveloped regions in West China.

Sha Yongzhong, executive director of Social Science Administration of Lanzhou University, said that in the construction of “Belt & Road”, we should address both global goal and domestic goal. The global one meant that we should go global and bring in, while the domestic one meant that we should encourage the flow of factors of production between the developed and western regions to promote the development of the western region. We should pay equal attention on these two goals, but closer attention should be paid on the domestic one for Gansu Province. He said that the GDP of the five central Asian countries was only the level of Tianjin in 2017, countries alongside the “Belt & Road” were almost underdeveloped economies, lacking of capital and technology, while East China regions were abounded in capital and technology, so Gansu should make connection with those developed regions in East China.

He also emphasized that Gansu Province should enhance cooperation with sister cities and provinces alongside “Belt & Road”, with government playing a comprehensive role in the course. Currently, Gansu had three international land port: Lanzhou, Wuwei and Tianshui, as well as three airports: Lanzhou, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang. However, there was no connection among these land ports and airports, so the situation of lacking of comprehensive planning and management in overall coordination and cooperation required the government to play its leading role.

Zhu Tingjun, vice chairman of Gansu Vocational Education Management Committee, said that Gansu should, in the light of actual circumstances, consider the overall situation with a long-term view, reflect on how to take proactive action to make Gansu integrate into “Belt & Road” by taking both national and local levels, both global and domestic aspects, as well as inland, border and coastal areas into consideration. Gansu should focus on opening to the west and secure the success of east-to-west and south-to-north connection. And a series of policy measures should be took on fiscal, taxation, finance, industry, education, science and technology, so that a local policy system supporting Gansu Province to deeply incorporate with “Belt & Road” construction could be formed.