China approves five-year plan to revive northeast

BEIJING - China's State Council has approved the plan to revive the country's northeastern region during 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) in the latest effort to assist the area's sagging economy.

The plan called for more focus on quality growth and supply-side structural reform to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

The northeast should take coordinated efforts to improve the region's economic structure and enhance its competitiveness, according to the plan.

The State Council asked authorities in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, as well as Inner Mongolia autonomous region to realize the urgency of the mission and make solid efforts to achieve the goals of the revival plan.

Amid China's economic slowdown in the last two years, the northeast, an old industrial base, has faced more difficulties than the rest of the country. The region relies largely on heavy and chemical industries, energy resources, raw materials and a large number of state-owned enterprises.

According to data from the National Development and Reform Commission, the region's economy grew 2.2 percent in the first half of 2016, much lower than the 7.6 percent, 7.8 percent and 8 percent for the eastern, central and western regions of the country, respectively.