Guo Feng, deputy to the National People's Congress and secretary of the Qingyuan Municipal CPC Committee, |: To crack the dual structure of urban and rural areas, Qingyuan should accelerate integration with Guangzhou

Zou Songlin, a reporter from China Economic Weekly, | report on the two sessions of the National People's Congress

(This article was published in China Economic Weekly, No. 10, 2020)

The final year of the battle against poverty has reached the middle stage, in the face of the new and old environmental changes that will take place, poverty alleviation work, rural work, what should be done next?

"Actively explore the establishment and improvement of institutional mechanisms and policy systems for the integrated development of urban and rural areas, and crack the dual structure of urban and rural areas." This is the Qingyuan answer given by Guo Feng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and secretary of the Qingyuan Municipal CPC Committee in Guangdong, when he was interviewed by a reporter from China Economic Weekly.

Relatively poor villages will all be listed by the end of June this year

In October 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping personally visited Qingyuan to guide Qingyuan's poverty alleviation. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping's inspection for more than a year, Qingyuan has kept in mind the entrustment and made remarkable achievements, as of the end of 2019, the city's 126,000 poor people have reached the standard of poverty alleviation, and the relatively poor villages have all met the conditions for listing, and all will be listed before the end of June this year. Guo Feng told the "China Economic Weekly" reporter that poor villages from "reaching the standards and listing", to poverty alleviation has "quality and stability", the breakthrough of Qingyuan work lies in cracking the dual structure of urban and rural areas.

"After the general secretary's inspection, Qingyuan insisted on taking lianzhang village and the surrounding 'three towns and one field' inspected by the general secretary as a model area for the city to crack the dual structure of urban and rural areas, solidly promoted the planning and construction of the entire model area, vigorously implemented the '1+ 1 + 5' action plan, comprehensively deepened reform through party building, and focused on promoting new urbanization, integration of urban and rural infrastructure, equalization of urban and rural public services, equalization of urban and rural property rights and interests, and diversified development of rural economic development, and boosted rural revitalization." Guo Feng said.

In December last year, the National Development and Reform Commission and 18 other departments jointly issued the "National Urban-Rural Integration Development Pilot Zone Reform Plan", which included the Guangqing Junction Area including the Lianzhang Model Area, and became a reform test field for cracking the dual structure of urban and rural areas in the country.

"In this regard, Qingyuan put forward the goal of building a demonstration zone for rural revitalization in the province and a pilot zone for the integration of urban and rural development in the country." Guo Feng said.

Accelerate the pace of "Guangdong-Qingdao integration" and "entering Zhurong Bay"

Qingyuan cannot explore the way, can not bypass the provincial city of Guangzhou, let alone bypass the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Guo Feng introduced that in recent years, around the cracking of the dual structure of urban and rural areas, Qingyuan has focused on carrying out "six major explorations".

These include: carrying out exploration of key areas, taking the Yingde E-commerce Industrial Park, Lianjiangkou Town, and Lianzhang Village inspected by the general secretary as key areas, taking the lead in exploring the "Qingyuan model" of poverty alleviation, urban-rural integration, and green development in the new era; carrying out comprehensive rural reform and exploration, taking rural revitalization as the "main battlefield" for cracking the dual structure of urban and rural areas; carrying out policy and system exploration, and taking the linkage of provinces and cities, the joint construction of municipal departments, and the rollout of counties and towns as "construction drawings" for cracking the dual structure of urban and rural areas; and carrying out exploration of grass-roots organizations. Take grassroots party building as the "ballast stone" to crack the dual structure of urban and rural areas, and build the party's grassroots organizational strength throughout the comprehensive reform of rural areas; carry out the exploration of ecological development of "one district", grasp the positioning of the northern ecological development zone, and actively promote industrial ecology and ecological industrialization.

The most important thing is to carry out the integration of Guangdong and Qingdao, solidly promote the "three integrations" of transportation, industry and business environment, and work with Guangzhou to fully integrate into the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the Guangdong Provincial Government proposed to use the strength of the whole province to support the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and support Shenzhen's construction of a pioneering demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics." At present, the construction of the 'dual zone' is being accelerated, which will surely bring huge development opportunities to the Pearl River Delta region, especially Qingyuan. Qingyuan will further grasp the "dual-zone driving effect" of favorable superposition, and accelerate the integration of Guangdong and Qingdao and the pace of entering Zhurong Bay. Guo Feng said.

According to Guo Feng, in the work of actively promoting the construction of the Guangqing Junction Area of the National Urban-Rural Integration Development Pilot Zone, priority will be given to promoting the interconnection of transportation facilities and creating a one-hour living circle integrated into the Greater Bay Area. Vigorously improve the level of access between Qingyuan and Guangzhou, and comprehensively shorten the time and space distance with major cities in the Greater Bay Area. On this basis, we will focus on the integrated development of industrial construction and plan to build the Guangqing Special Economic Cooperation Zone from a high starting point.

"Focusing on 'where the Bay Area is going, what Guangzhou needs, and what Qingyuan can do', based on Qingyuan's functional positioning, resource endowments and long-term development, we will actively promote the construction of the three industrial parks of Guangqing, Guangde and Guangfo and the new logistics industry of Guangqing Airport, and build the Guangqing Special Economic Cooperation Zone at a high level." Guo Feng told The China Economic Weekly reporter.

What is "special" about the "special" cooperation zone?

In addition to the interconnection of transportation facilities, the key to the "special" of the Guangqing Special Economic Cooperation Zone lies in the integrated development of industrial construction.

Guo Feng told the "China Economic Weekly" reporter that Qingyuan should firmly grasp the layout of the new round of industrial transfer in the Greater Bay Area, encourage projects to extend around the industrial chain, form a cluster development of upstream and downstream industrial chains, and turn the process of industrial function relief into a win-win process of industrial transformation and upgrading and production optimization layout. Formulate a plan to support the excellence of the real economy, and concentrate on helping a number of key high-quality enterprises to become bigger and stronger.

Specifically, we will seize the opportunity of Guangdong Province to implement the "vegetable basket", "fruit plate", "rice bag" and "water tank" series of cultivation projects, accurately dock the demand for high-quality ecological products in the "double region", actively build the "vegetable basket" industrial chain in the Greater Bay Area, and promote the docking of high-quality agricultural products with the "double area" large market.

At the same time, leading agricultural enterprises in Guangzhou are encouraged to build agricultural production, processing and distribution bases in Qingyuan. With the Guangqing Agricultural Co-working Space as an important carrier, we will open up the channel for small farmers to connect with large markets and agricultural products to enter large cities, and continuously enhance the market competitiveness of Qingyuan agricultural products in the Greater Bay Area.

Whether it is the industrial transfer layout that must be firmly grasped, or the opportunities in the provincial agricultural service industry that must be seized, the foothold lies in serving the enterprises well.

"Accelerating the creation of a high-quality business environment is a powerful new engine for Qingyuan to 'enter Zhurong Bay.'" Guo Feng gave an example of Qingyuan's practical approach:

Open the "Guangqing cross-city handling" business, open a special window for the "Guangqing cross-city handling" entity, and configure the "Window of the Citizens" self-service terminal in Guangzhou to achieve 24-hour cross-city communication.

Guangqing and Qingdao have realized the instant settlement of medical insurance in different places, the barrier-free transfer of social security relations, encouraged market entities to gradually cancel cross-city charging projects such as financial services, comprehensively increased the amount of mutual loan funds of Guangqing Housing Provident Fund, and realized more government service matters to be handled in different places.

At the same time, according to Qingyuan's needs, a certain number of Guangzhou talent green cards will be issued to Qingyuan experts, and some of Guangzhou's industrial policies will be covered to enterprises transferred from Guangzhou to Qingyuan.

Explore the national green finance reform and innovation pilot zone created by Guangzhou to radiate to Qingyuan, jointly promote the construction of the green financial ecosystem, and guide and promote financial institutions to increase their support for the implementation of the Qingyuan rural revitalization strategy and the development of green industries.

"Next, with the spirit of reform that dares to try and dare to be the first, we will take advantage of the momentum and work with Guangzhou City to promote the reform of the Guangqing Junction Area of the National Urban-Rural Integration Development Pilot Zone, actively explore the establishment and improvement of institutional mechanisms and policy systems for the integration of urban and rural development, and strive to create a new road of urban-rural integration development with Qingyuan characteristics, so as to provide a replicable and popularized 'Qingyuan experience' for the national urban-rural integration development." Guo Feng said.