On May 5, the Information Office of the People's Government of Sichuan Province held the first press conference on "common prosperity of five zones" in Chengdu, with the theme of "Advancing Common Prosperity of Five Zones and Promoting High-level Coordinated Regional Development" .
Sichuan, with a vast territory, obvious geographical differences, and rich and colorful history and culture, has formed five regional economic zones: Chengdu Plain, South Sichuan, Northeast Sichuan, Panzhihua-Xichang, and Northwest Sichuan. Promoting "common prosperity of five zones" is not only a realistic need to solve the problem of uneven development, but also an inevitable requirement to promote Sichuan's modernization. In recent years, the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province have conscientiously implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and vigorously promoted coordinated regional development. The regional economy of the whole province has shown a good trend of coordination and leapfrog development.
Data show that Sichuan's regional GDP reached 5.67 trillion yuan in 2022, ranking sixth in China and first in the western region. As its contribution to the national GDP increased from 4.4% to 4.7%, Sichuan is steadily growing from a major economically developed province into a strong one. In 2022, the regional GDP of Chengdu Metropolitan Area reached 2.62 trillion yuan, accounting for 46.2% of the province's total. A modern metropolitan area with international competitiveness and regional driving forces began to take shape. The regional GDP of seven regional central cities, including Mianyang, Deyang, Leshan, Yibin, Luzhou, Nanchong and Dazhou, all exceeded 200 billion yuan, together accounting for 35.2% of the province's total, 2.1 percentage points higher than that in 2012. The construction of provincial new areas has been going very well since its start, and the carrying capacity of industries and population continues improving.
From the perspective of regional economic development, Chengdu Plain Economic Zone plays a significant role as "the cornerstone", South Sichuan Economic Zone has made remarkable progress in integrated development, Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone shows a good momentum of revitalization and development, Panzhihua-Xichang Economic Zone is speeding up transformation and upgrading, and Northwest Sichuan Ecological Demonstration Zone shows distinctive features of green development. They are catching up and competing with each other.
According to relevant information, Sichuan will adhere to the strategy of advancing coordinated regional development through the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and fully implement the development strategy of promoting "common prosperity of five zones". The province will endeavor to build a stronger modern metropolitan area of Chengdu, strengthen secondary driving forces, cultivate emerging driving forces, and promote the characteristic development of the five zones and the leapfrog development of underdeveloped areas. It strives for overall optimization of the province's regional layout and overall improvement of the functional system and the development level, and for faster formation of a regional development pattern where different zones have their own strengths and characteristics and help each other forward.
At the press conference, relevant heads of Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Office of Policy Studies of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information, Sichuan Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Sichuan Provincial Department of Transport introduced the relevant information and answered questions from reporters. Xinhua News Agency, China News Service and other central, provincial and municipal media attended the press conference.
