Natives of Aheqi county work at a factory built by a Wuxi enterprise. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province has helped improve people's livelihoods and industrial development in Aheqi county, West China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, over the past 15 years.
Aheqi, inhabited by ethnic minorities, began receiving assistance from Wuxi in 2007, when it was a poverty alleviation pilot county.
Aheqi students attend an online class given by a teacher from Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
The working teams from Wuxi have transformed the county's abundant resources into industrial development advantages over the past 15 years.
The sea buckthorn and garlic industries have become Aheqi's leading industries.
In May, the Xinjiang Sea Buckthorn Intensive Processing Engineering and Technology Research Center built by Wuxi in Aheqi received approval from local authorities, and in June construction of the 210-million-yuan ($30.07-million) Medicinal Garlic Industry Demonstration Zone started.
A prairie in Aheqi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Wuxi authorities have also spent over 400 million yuan building more than 100 pieces of infrastructure in the county, including farmer's markets, health centers, waterworks, and refuse landfills.
Since 2011, Wuxi working teams have allocated special funds every year to support startup projects in Aheqi and encourage more locals to start businesses.
Over the past few years, these working teams have also brought in advanced education concepts and trained a large number of teachers and medical workers in Aheqi.
