Northwest China's Gansu should make intensified efforts to promote the cluster development of leading industries such as new energy, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and integrated circuits in a drive to further consolidate its achievements in poverty reduction and build the province into an industrial powerhouse.

Huang Baorong, NPC deputy of the Gansu delegation, speaks at the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress. [Photo/news.hexun.com]

Huang Baorong, a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and deputy director-general of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Gansu Province, made the remarks during an interview with National Business Daily on the sidelines of this year's two sessions.

With regard to the implementation of the national strategy concerning ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, Huang proposed building a number of pumped storage hydroelectric plants in the Lanzhou-Baiyin section of the Yellow River in order to promote the development and storage of new energy.

According to him, the country should support Gansu to build a comprehensive and innovative pilot zone for carbon neutrality and strengthen its cooperation with the National Carbon Emissions Exchange in the formation of a regional statistical system for carbon emissions, laying a foundation and setting an example for the establishment of a nationwide measurement system for carbon neutrality.

As a major production area of traditional Chinese herbs, Gansu has attached great importance to the development of herb-related industries during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Huang said and urged the nation to step up policy support to Gansu and help it build a national-level TCM industrial base in a move to better translate local TCM resources into economic benefits.

"Gansu should fully utilize its natural strengths in the development of new energy, accommodate the transfer of such emerging industries as 5G and big data, and push the digital transformation of local petrochemical industry and the exploration of non-ferrous metals," Huang said, adding that the high-quality development of steel and other raw materials plays a leading role in the development of manufacturing industry and in the building of stable industrial and supply chains.

Meanwhile, Huang urged the country to support Tianshui in the building of an industrial cluster for the packaging and measurement of integrated circuits, add the development of integrated circuits to a national-level supportive list of industrial sectors in the west, and extend guidance as well as assistance to Gansu in the development of relevant industries in terms of planning, policy, capital and programs.

In addition, the country should provide Lanzhou University and other local universities with support in the formation of academic disciplines related to integrated circuits and the recruitment of fresh students for targeted training programs in a drive to foster more talents for the construction of an industrial cluster for the packaging and measurement of integrated circuits in Gansu.