The Chinese Government plans to accelerate development in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

"Poverty and underdevelopment are two major problems Guizhou should address to realize national common prosperity," said Du Ying, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference outlining the Central Government's plan to promote sound and rapid growth in the region.

The State Council will advance development in Guizhou by initiating 176 major construction projects and introducing various incentive measures in the form of fiscal investment and tax breaks.

To facilitate development in Guizhou, experts suggest the province make innovations in finance to expand channels for financing.

Lu Zhongyuan, Vice President of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said Guizhou can cooperate with Yunnan Province, which has comparatively better developed finance and property trading industries.

"Financial institutions from coastal areas may hold different ideas from local institutions, therefore Guizhou should develop a platform of finance and property trading with the support of existing resources in nearby regions, since Yunnan and Guizhou share similar habits and ideas," Lu said.

Zhao Xijun, Deputy Director of the Financial and Securities Institute at the Renmin University of China, said Guizhou Province has always been weak in mobilizing financial resources and the aggregate volume of investment in Guizhou is small. Investment and financing have been big obstacles hindering rapid economic development in the province.

According to Zhao, Guizhou should expand the number, varieties and scale of financial institutions and accelerate introduction of financial institutions from other parts of China or foreign countries. The province may also encourage development of institutions such as small-amount credit companies, financing guarantee companies, consumer finance companies and pawn shops to better serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "The Central Government has formulated many favorable credit policies to support SMEs and private economy in the western region, and Guizhou should make full use of these policies," Zhao said.

He also suggested introduction of more financial tools to Guizhou, such as venture capital and private equity, and establishment of markets for property and carbon trading. The province can also cooperate with other provinces and autonomous regions in setting up financial networks in southwest China. To reduce financing costs, Guizhou can adopt differentiated deposit reserve rates among different types of financial institutions and experiment by issuing local government bonds.

Wei Houkai, Deputy Director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Guizhou should establish diversified investment and financing channels and mechanisms, both obtaining more financial support from the Central Government and creating a better environment to attract external funds.