OREANDA-NEWS. May 23, 2013. The Sichuan Provincial Government and China Development Bank (CDB) held a joint high-level meeting in Chengdu today and signed the first financial cooperation agreement for the support of reconstruction in Lushan following the 20 April earthquake in order to jointly push forward the post-disaster reconstruction in Lushan and speed up new urbanization building in Sichuan.

Wang Dongming, secretary of the Sichuan provincial party committee and chairman of the standing committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress; Wei Hong, deputy secretary of the Sichuan provincial party committee and governor of Sichuan; Hu Huaibang, secretary of the party committee and chairman of the board of CDB; and Wang Yongsheng, member of the party committees and vice president of CDB, attended the signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, CDB will provide large-amount financing support for the post-disaster reconstruction and new urbanization building in Sichuan, and will also extend support to key areas and key projects in post-disaster reconstruction and cooperation in the size of credit, loan approval, and loan conditions so as to create favorable conditions for better serving new urbanization and post-disaster reconstruction through strengthening planning and cooperation.

Wang Dongming expressed his welcome for Hu Huaibang and his entourage to come to Sichuan to sign a strategic cooperation memorandum, and expressed his appreciation to CDB for having offered great support for the disaster relief and reconstruction following the 20 April strong earthquake in Lushan. He said: CDB has for a long time offered great support for the key infrastructure building and major industrial development in Sichuan. After the earthquake, CDB actively participated in disaster relief and immediately provided the disaster zone with emergency loans and launched charitable donations.

By doing so, CDB has greatly boosted the confidence of the people in the disaster zone to overcome the disaster and rebuild their homeland. At present, new urbanization in Sichuan is in the midst of rapid development and has bright development prospects and great development potential. We will scientifically formulate a plan for post-disaster reconstruction, closely integrate post-disaster recovery and reconstruction with new urbanization and new countryside building, and focus on improving the quality and level of new urbanization in Sichuan, accelerating the construction of a new urban system of complementary functionality and coordinated development in mega-cities, regional centers, medium and small cities, and small towns and townships while leading people in the disaster zone in rebuilding a beautiful homeland.

We hope CDB will continue to give play to its advantages in funding and talent, step up the efforts in implementing the signed agreement, and provide even greater support to Sichuan in achieving victories in post-disaster reconstruction and in economic and social development, and writing the Sichuan chapter of the "Chinese Dream" of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

CDB Chairman Hu Huaibang expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the long-time great support and help for CDB's business in Sichuan from the Sichuan provincial party committee and provincial government. He pointed out: Sichuan has been enjoying a good momentum of development since the beginning of this year and cooperation between the two sides has been fruitful. At present, the central leadership has given prominent priority to new urbanization building, and CDB is currently formulating a specific plan to support new urbanization building. Since Sichuan has some good foundation with special characteristics in this aspect, he expressed the hope that the two sides will continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

Hu said that CDB will continue to follow the road of development financing, stick to the service philosophy of "government priorities and timely assistance", stick to the development strategy of "one body two wings", and continue to support major strategic implementations in Sichuan as before. In post-disaster reconstruction, CDB will actively take part in post-disaster planning and will offer support in the size of credit and loan approval in order to vigorously assist with post-earthquake reconstruction in Lushan, Sichuan. In new urbanization, CDB will strengthen planning cooperation with Sichuan, innovate the model of investment and financing, give play to its advantages in comprehensive financial services, and provide support in financing and talent for the development of new urbanization in Sichuan.

On the same day, CDB also signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum on Supporting the Development of New Urbanization in Chengdu with Development Financing with the Chengdu city government. Under the agreement, CDB will provide large-amount financing support for Chengdu Tianfu New District, industrial parks, welfare housing, an ecological zone surrounding the city, key small towns and townships, modern agriculture, urban and rural transportation network, the people's livelihood, and other new urbanization areas within the next five years. This is a major measure taken by CDB in the new situation to support coordinated urban and rural development and help Chengdu further implement the interaction between industrialization and urbanization and the overall coordinated urban and rural strategy as well as the "strategy of five major measures for reviving the city". This will greatly push forward the new urbanization process in Chengdu. Huang Xinchu, member of the standing committee of the Sichuan provincial party committee and secretary of the Chengdu city party committee; and Ge Honglin, deputy secretary of the Chengdu city party committee and mayor of Chengdu, attended the signing ceremony.

In addition, CDB Sichuan Branch separately signed loan contracts and agreements of intent with Chengdu Metro, Chengdu Affordable Housing Center, and Chengdu Urban and Rural Trade Logistics Development Investment Company to support the phase-one project of Chengdu Metro Line 3, the Beigai Caojiaxiang shantytown revamping project in Chengdu, and the construction of the Chengdu Agricultural Products Wholesale and Retail Market.

It is learned that CDB is the largest lender for infrastructure building and the largest foreign currency lender in Sichuan. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, CDB has made cumulative loans amounting to 425.1 billion yuan to Sichuan (of which 150.7 billion yuan to Chengdu) and brought in syndicated loans, trusts, bonds, and other external funding totaling 170.4 billion yuan. Thus, CDB has made positive contributions to the concentrated industrial development, transportation hub building, major industrial transfers, urban and rural public facility upgrading, and the improvement of education and health conditions in Sichuan and Chengdu.