In an exclusive interview with China.org.cn on Nov. 11, Governor and Secretary of the Guizhou provincial Party committee Zhao Kezhi talked about how the province's Bijie Experimental Area has promoted local economic development over the past decades and how the system of multi-party cooperation and consultation has contributed to the overall process. Zhao is currently in Beijing to attend the seven-day-long 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Governor and Secretary of the Guizhou provincial Party committee Zhao Kezhi.

Located in northwestern Guizhou Province, Bijie is an area of mountains and rock-desertification. It used to be the poorest area in the country, with its farmers' per capita GDP standing at only 184 yuan, its number of poverty-stricken people exceeding 3 million, and forest acreage amounting to a mere 8-15 percent before 1987.

The Bijie Experimental Area in Guizhou Province was approved and established in 1988, when the nation's current President Hu Jintao served as secretary of the Guizhou provincial Party committee, according to Zhao.

Zhao pointed out the three main aspects since the establishment of the Bijie Experimental Area. First, its economic strength went up a notch to rank third place in the province, as opposed to previously coming in last. People's living standards have significantly improved as well, with farmers' income now attaining 5,000 yuan (US$801.5) and half of the area's 1.6 million farm households residing in newly-built houses. Finally then, the area's ecological environment has been greatly protected, with forest acreage expected to reach up to 42 percent by the end of this year- a great improvement from its earlier 15 percent before 1988.

"The province has been undergoing great changes with each day passing. That's exactly the reason why a particular song entitled "Four Seasons" is so popular among locals," said Zhao. The song was written in praise of the area's tremendous achievements over the past decades.

Speaking of multi-party cooperation and consultation in the experimental area, Zhao refers to their accumulated experience as "being of one heart and one mind, and making a concerted effort."

As instructed by General Secretary Hu Jintao of the CPC Central Committee and under the leadership of the CPC, the multi-party cooperation has helped accelerate the province's economic development, reform and opening up to the outside world, as well as the improvement of the people's livelihood, said Zhao.