On March 12, the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province held working talks and signed a ministerial-provincial cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing. Wang Xiaohui, Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Sichuan Provincial People's Congress, Wang Wentao, Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group and Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, and Huang Qiang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, attended.

During the talks, Wang Xiaohui and Huang Qiang briefly introduced Sichuan's economic and social development. On behalf of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province, they expressed their gratitude to the Ministry of Commerce for its long-term support and help to Sichuan in expanding opening up, stabilizing foreign trade and investment, promoting consumption, unblocking distribution and providing targeted assistance. Wang Xiaohui said that Sichuan is a strategic hinterland for China's development, and General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the work in Sichuan. During his latest inspection tour of the province last July, just one year after the previous one, he endowed Sichuan with new strategic positioning, missions and tasks, charting a course and providing fundamental guidance for us to deliver Sichuan's work well on the new journey in the new era. The just-concluded national "two sessions" have made arrangements for fulfilling the tasks of the year. In particular, the Report on the Work of the Government has put forward many high value-added policies and measures to ensure the business work performs well, injecting strong confidence into us and bringing great opportunities. We will resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee, earnestly shoulder the major responsibility of building a national strategic hinterland and a hub of westward opening up, and make every effort to accomplish key tasks such as improving the quality and expanding the scale of consumption, transforming and upgrading foreign trade, and modernizing the commercial distribution system. In this way, we will make new progress and breakthroughs in Sichuan's high-quality development. We hope that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to give strong guidance and support, and capitalize on the signing of the ministerial-provincial cooperation agreement to help us better coordinate high-quality development and high-level opening up, push Sichuan's business work to a new level, and strive to make more contributions to the overall development of China.

Wang Wentao spoke highly of Sichuan's achievements in business work since last year. He said that Sichuan, a major open and economically developed province, boasts unique advantages in terms of locational conditions, resource endowments and industrial foundation, and enjoys broad prospects for development. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and is a crucial year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The national "two sessions" have just concluded, and the Report on the Work of the Government has put forward new tasks and requirements for business work. We will continue to follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, conscientiously implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, play the three important roles of business work, do a solid job in all aspects, and serve the overall development of the cause of the Party and the country with the fruits of high-quality business development. The Ministry of Commerce, along with the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province, will take the signing of this cooperation agreement as an opportunity to strengthen alignment and collaboration with Sichuan in promoting consumption from post-epidemic recovery to continuous expansion, sustaining the sound fundamentals of foreign trade and investment, and expanding high-level opening up. The joint efforts will better facilitate the high-quality development of Sichuan, and make new and greater contributions to building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.

At the ceremony, Wang Wentao and Huang Qiang, on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce and the People's Government of Sichuan Province respectively, signed the cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, the two sides will strengthen ministerial-provincial cooperation, and support Sichuan Province in building itself into a leading province in trade and service industry, an international consumption destination, a preferred place for foreign investment in central and western China, a strategic highland of westward opening up and a new base for participating in international competition. They will jointly promote the high-quality development of commerce in the new era, and strive to make new contributions to advancing Chinese modernization.

Member of the Leading Party Members Group and Assistant to the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce Tang Wenhong, provincial leaders Chen Wei and Zuo Yongxiang, Mayor of Chengdu Municipal People's Government Wang Fengchao, as well as heads of relevant departments of the Ministry of Commerce and relevant provincial departments participated in the talks.