Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday encouraged Chongqing to strive to build itself into a key strategic fulcrum for the development of China's western regions in the new era and a comprehensive hub for inland opening up by leveraging its comparative advantages and late-mover advantages.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during a inspection tour in the southwestern municipality.
On Wednesday morning, Xi listened to work briefing from the CPC municipal committee and the municipal government, and affirmed Chongqing's achievements on all fronts.
He urged Chongqing to strive to build a modernized industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, transform and upgrade key technologies in the manufacturing sector and promote large-scale equipment renewals.
Efforts should go toward accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and toward fostering emerging and strategic industries with international competitiveness, he said.
Xi also called on Chongqing to redouble its efforts to make breakthroughs in key technologies, promote the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, and develop new quality productive forces.
He stressed pushing forward the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle to become a key engine of the country's high-quality development and a new driver of growth.
The city should boost green development, and build a strong ecological shield in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, he said.
Efforts should be made to foster a batch of state-owned enterprises with strong core competitiveness, bolster the development of the private economy, and stimulate the vitality of business entities under various forms of ownership, Xi said.
Chongqing should integrate actively into the building of a unified national market, serve major national strategies, and play a bigger role in the interconnected development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, he said.
He called on the city to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules to foster a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized.
Chongqing should actively explore the modern governance of megacities, accelerating the pace of building a smart city, improving spiritual civilization, and strengthening disaster prevention, mitigation and response capacities, Xi said.
On integrated urban-rural development, Xi said that work should be done to promote new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization, guarantee grain production, develop ecological agriculture, and see that no large-scale return to poverty occurs.
He stressed the importance of steadfastly upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building.
Continuous efforts should be made to rectify pointless formalities to reduce burdens at the primary level, undertake Party discipline education, fight and punish corruption, and eradicate the breeding grounds for corruption, Xi said.