A research report on the socioeconomic development strategy of China's Hebei Province, drawn out by Chinese and foreign experts with aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was launched Wednesday in Beijing, becoming the first of its kind in China.

The research report is the product of a technical assistance (TA) project approved by the bank in November 2002, and financed with a 600,000-US dollar grant from its Asian Development Fund, according to the ADB.

This is the first time the bank has assisted a Chinese province in preparing its development strategy.

Hebei Province in north China, despite its coastal location and proximity to Beijing and Tianjin, has lagged behind other coastal provinces over the last two decades in terms of output growth, employment growth, economic diversification, productivity improvements, and social development.

The ADB TA project is expected to help the provincial government formulate a socioeconomic development strategy that takes advantage of Hebei's access to Beijing, Tianjin, and global markets.

In about 11 months, Chinese and foreign experts working for the the TA project produced a four-volume report which comprises strategic considerations for Hebei Province's development; strategic considerations from an international perspective; and sector studies including poverty alleviation, the environment, industrial restructuring, urbanization, Bohai coastal development, hi-tech development, tourism, investment financing, and fiscal reform; and 17 international case studies in seven sectors.

According to Guo Gengmao, deputy governor of Hebei Province, the experts from Shanghai, Canada and the United States were invited through international biddings.

Peng Longyun, economics officer in the ADB's Resident Mission in China, said "In fact, the Hebei government used the TA report as reference documents in formulating its 11th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development."

The total cost of the TA was 800,000 US dollars, of which the Hebei provincial government contributed 200,000 US dollars.

So far the ADB's total lending to Hebei Province stands at 766 million US dollars for two expressway projects, one environmental protection project, one storage power plant, and one wastewater treatment project.

Source: Xinhua