Yili Industrial Group -- the leading dairy company in Inner Mongolia autonomous region -- and the  Hinggan League Government signed a cooperation agreement to jointly build the Hinggan League Yili Green and Healthy Industry Innovation Demonstration Zone on Dec 22, officials said. 

Bu Xiaolin, deputy secretary of the Inner Mongolia Party committee and chairman of Inner Mongolia, attended the signing ceremony. 

Pan Gang, president of Yili Group, also attended the signing ceremony and delivered speeches. 

Officials said the Inner Mongolia government has attached great importance to the development of the local dairy sector in recent years. 

Bu has conducted various in-depth investigations into Yili factories. 

She urged Yili to solve bottlenecks restricting the development of China's dairy industry, and instructed Yili to give full play to its leading role in the local dairy industry and help power economic development in Hinggan League. 

The government of Hinggan League held a series of special meetings with Yili Group to quicken the construction of the project. Officials said it is expected to become a world-leading high-end organic dairy product production base and high-quality mineral water base in the region. 

Officials added that relying on Hinggan League's natural resources, the project will help promote the industrial transformation and upgrade of the dairy industry and the economic revitalization of the region. 

The demonstration zone is expected to spur economic development in Inner Mongolia and become a milestone in the development history of the region, Yili Group chief Pan Gang said. 

According to officials, the project plans to add 360,000 cows in standardized dairy farms and intelligent dairy processing plants, with an average daily milk volume of 4,000 tons. 

It is expected to stimulate various local industries, including planting, feed processing, dairy processing and the logistics industry. 

Officials said that at least 180 billion yuan ($25.71 billion) will be contributed to the local economy from the entire industrial chain, which will also create an estimated 460,000 new jobs.