Members of Wuxi's medical team take a group photo with residents in Akqi county. [Photo/wxrb.com]
Akqi county, which is located in West China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and bordering Kyrgyzstan, has made fruitful achievements in its socioeconomic development during the 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-20) period.
In 2020, Akqi saw its gross domestic product grow by 6.04 percent yearly from 2015, totaling about 1.42 billion yuan ($219.12 million). Its residents' per capita disposable income increased by 7.13 percent year-on-year from 2015 to reach 32,900 yuan.
Wuxi started to offer partnered assistance to Akqi county in 2007, under an initiative from the central government to help lift the county out of poverty.
A total of 28 cadres aiding Xinjiang left from their Wuxi home on March 29, 2020, in spite of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.
They raised more than 2 million yuan in anti-epidemic materials, such as masks, goggles, protective clothing, alcohol, disinfectant, and medicine for Akqi, which greatly supported the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control work there.
The medical team that left for Akqi also fought on the front lines against the COVID-19 epidemic there. They improved the systems for fever clinic treatment, as well as established teams for nucleic acid testing and the transport of anti-epidemic materials.
With a total investment of 50.34 million yuan, a series of new projects started construction in Akqi last May, covering industrial development, education, healthcare, cultural tourism, and basic infrastructure.
Among them, Phase II of the domestic waste treatment project in Akqi had an investment of 20 million yuan, aiming to improve the county's harmless treatment rate of domestic garbage to 90 percent.
In July 2020, the first batch of new energy buses provided by Wuxi started operation in Akqi.
A trade fair selling farm and pasture products made in Akqi was held in Wuxi National Hi-tech District on July 2, 2020.
Lamb meat, yak meat, and sea-buckthorn, whose fruits are abundant in vitamin C, were signed to be promoted as local specialties of Akqi to Wuxi's restaurants and food markets, according to 10 deals worth 12 million yuan.
Officials said that Wuxi will continue to provide financial, educational, medical, and health support to Akqi, along with cultural exchange and tourism promotion in the future.
