Dear distinguished leaders, speakers and guests,

This is the first time that I‘m visiting Tibet and I‘m deeply grateful to the Publicity Department of the central government and to the local government for offering me this opportunity. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

They say that there‘s no place like Tibet in China, but I think that is an understatement.

Whether it‘s the clear blue sky, the white snow-clad mountains or the green pastures, no place on Earth can be as beautiful, as enchanting and as inviting as Tibet.

But there is more, much more to Tibet than its natural wonders.

Although Tibet has a harsh rugged terrain and the lowest population density in the whole country, the government has since 1978 increased the per capita disposable income nearly 40 times of urban residents and 42 times of rural residents. And the local government wants to raise it further – by 10 percent for urban and by 13 percent for rural residents by 2020.

In the first quarter of this year, it recorded one of the highest economic growth rates in China, 10.7 percent. The central government has allocated $4.6 billion to projects such as hydropower stations and a railway and highway linking Lhasa to Nyingchi Prefecture.

With a population of just 3.2 million, Tibet saw 20 million tourists in 2015, a 29 percent rise from the previous year.

But Tibet is not achieving this spectacular economic growth at the cost of environment. In recent years, it has tightened restrictions on construction projects, prohibiting high levels of pollution and emissions and energy consumption.

It has also increased reforestation efforts and stemmed desertification. Currently, the entire region has established 22 ecologically protection areas, eight national forest parks, five national wetland parks, four geological parks, three national scenic areas and 47 nature reserves, 412,200 square km in total, which make up 34.5 percent of the total land area of Tibet.

As part of its opening-up, it has increased highway length by 4,878 km, for a total length of 75,470 km. It plans to have 110,000 km of highways by 2020, and all counties and towns should be accessible by asphalt roads. Just to put this into perspective, the region had no paved roads in 1950.

Whether it‘s economic growth, environment, opening-up, coordinating with the central government or innovation, Tibet has made remarkable progress in a short period. And this is just a start.

It used to take a long time for a product to reach customers. But the arrival of e-commerce has changed all that. Tibet now has the highest share of mobile payments in the country. It has already overtaken coastal areas and is fast becoming the leading region for mobile shopping.

Thanks to improved public transportation, the logistics industry is growing fast as a result of the dramatic increase in e-commerce.

If we take a look at how much progress Tibet has made in the past couple of decades, we can say with certainty that Tibet has just started on a beautiful journey – a journey that will be fruitful for all its residents.

I wish the local government and all Tibetans a bright future.

Once again, thank you very much.

(Faisal Kidwai, senior editor , China Daily website)