Collaboration and paired assistance between East China's Fujian province and the northwestern Ningxia Hui autonomous region entered a new chapter when Ningxia shook off poverty and began rural vitalization work, according to a news conference held in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, on May 30.

The two sides will continue to consolidate poverty alleviation achievements and promote rural vitalization in areas that have risen from poverty, aiming to achieve coordinated regional development and common prosperity.

Fujian will align efforts to consolidate and expand achievements in poverty alleviation with efforts to promote rural revitalization in Ningxia. Efforts will also be made to promote the development of Minning in a bid to accelerate the integration of industry and city, according to a top Fujian official.

The official added that the two sides will stress the importance of energizing market entities and leveraging their key role in driving economic development. A slew of favorable policies will be rolled out to encourage more leading Fujian enterprises to aid in construction and invest in Ningxia. Efforts will be made to continue  optimizing the business environment in order to encourage more Ningxia companies to invest and start businesses in Fujian.

Minning town, located in a desert area of Ningxia, has undergone rapid economic development since Ningxia established pairing-off poverty-alleviation cooperation with Fujian province in 1996.

The paired assistance cooperation between Fujian and Ningxia has played an important role in Ningxia's poverty alleviation efforts and the mutual prosperity of the two regions. Over the past 25 years, Fujian has offered significant help to Ningxia in incubating industrial clusters and fostering innovative brands, helping the two regions develop, said the top official from Ningxia.

Fujian and Ningxia signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement at the news conference, agreeing to deepen cooperation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).