China's State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan urged the northeast provinces to improve cooperation with neighboring countries to help rejuvenate the region.

Tang made the remarks at a meeting on foreign affairs of the Northeast, which includes Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces and is known as China's old industrial base.

Emphasizing the role of economic ties in foreign relations, Tang urged the three provinces to improve exchanges with Russia, Democratic Republic of Korean, Japan, Republic or Korea and Mongolia to boost regional economic development.

He also suggested the three provinces to take an active part in Northeast Asian regional cooperation, further open up to the world and improve exchanges with foreign countries through non-official channels.