Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests and friends:

I am working at a grassroots government in a border township named Lagyab of Lhozhag County under Shannan City. It's my great honor to attend this high-level development forum as a grassroots cadre. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to communicate with and learn from you. My topic is Lagyab Township Strives to Lead in Development in Border Regions.

Located in the southeast of Lhozhag County, bordering the Kingdom of Bhutan in the north, Lagyab Village was established as a special border village approved by China's State Council. 112 km from Lhozhag County and 396 km from Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, Lagyab is the remotest among the seven townships in Lhozhag County. The average height above sea level is 3,675 meters. It lies in the subtropical zone with an area of 854 square kilometers. The 223 villagers in the 69 households shoulder the responsibilities to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity, and fulfill the arduous tasks of border-defense and border-control.

In the past, Lagyab villagers had a hard life and lived in run-down houses, living from meal-to-meal. Villagers were mainly lumberjacks, cutting wood and selling the timber. Due to its remoteness, the timber could not be sold for a good price. At that time, villagers fell into a strange situation: the cheaper the price of the wood, the more trees were cut down and eventually the poorer villagers became. The extensive logging production and ruthless exploitation destroyed the local environment.

In recent years, we have paid more attention to the living conditions of the citizens living near the border, and have taken measures to improve the standard of living. Nowadays, more trees have been planted and the mountains have turned greener than before, and locals have moved into new houses. They work in environmentally-friendly industries, get subsidies and are able to live a happy life. The average income of 3,000 yuan for locals in Lagyab village in the past increased to 13,477 yuan in 2015, far more than that in Shannan city and that of farmers and herdsmen in the country.

When villagers become richer, they loved their hometown more. In today's Lagyab, people in every village have an awareness of safeguarding the border.

1. To create a local economy and safeguard the border region

The 6th Tibet work conference of the CPC Central Committee pointed out that by 2020, people will enjoy a much better life with the per capita net income of urban and rural residents to have doubled from what it was in 2010, becoming close to the national average. The improvement of infrastructure and ecological civilization construction should achieve significant results. Our important task and aim is to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way as soon as possible, as this is Lagyab people's wish, too.

However, there were no industries to develop due to the lack of resources, so local people depended on the forest for food, and their main income was from forestry and logging. The average income for them was only 3,000 yuan per year. Further, deforestation caused severe water loss and soil erosion, and the worsening ecosystem directly affected people's living environment.

We realized that Lagyab should make full use of its own advantages, rather than destroy the environment at any price by "draining the pond to catch the fish". We need to develop the village through other specialties and resources.

In recent years, we have implemented central government policies to benefit villagers, developed the economy and promoted an innovative, green, coordinated and shared development, striving to make Lagyab into a creative and environmentally-friendly township.

People in Lagyab can get subsidies from the government, such as low-income living allowances and so on. People above 16 years of age get a border aid of 2,900 yuan annually, including 1,200 yuan from the municipal authority. 48 people are provided with subsistence allowance so that the whole township has risen out of poverty. For those above 65, the amount stands at 3,000. Villagers that contract local pastures are given 809 yuan per person per year. Under all these preferential policies, our residents receive an average income of 6,000 yuan. When it comes to the handling of funds, we also keep updates on changes in the population of the township and supervise the whole process to ensure that the money goes to the right person and is given the correct amount.

We try our best at developing the local special industries. Lagyab is not rich in a diverse range of resources, but because of its subtropical climate, it has abundant bamboo and a big potential to grow agricultural produce under the trees. We encouraged villagers to use the resources in a rational way. We developed bamboo and wood handicraft production and started the plantation of wood‘s ear, a type of fungus that is an important ingredient in Chinese dishes. The bamboo and wood handicraft production contributed a lot to the villagers‘ incomes. In 2015 alone, it generated a profit of 515,000 yuan, averaging 5,000 yuan per participating villager.

In order to strengthen the management of bamboo and woodcraft production, 108 villagers voluntarily established a market-oriented organization. They took their crafts to the association, and the association arranged 2 salesmen to sell the products. This operation mode has changed villagers' old ideas of producing and selling products all by themselves. This way of marketing has reduced the cost of sales and increased their income, which is welcomed by the local villagers.

2. To give priority to people's livelihoods and build a beautiful township

For a long time, the infrastructure in the remote town of Lagyab was underdeveloped and living conditions were very poor, especially when it is compared with neighboring areas. So some border villagers thought of leaving Lagyab.

We knew that there is only one way to keep villagers from leaving their hometown, which is to improve their livelihoods, and bring people together to create a better living environment.

We concentrated our efforts on improving people's livelihoods. Before 2013, produce and materials were imported from outside the village. In 2014, with the help of a working team to build greenhouses, border villagers had the chance to eat vegetables they planted for the first time. Before 2009, border villagers lived in run-down wooden houses- when it rained outside, it rained inside as well. Now, their houses are all re-built and villagers live in 2-story brick-concrete houses, as part of China's comfortable housing project. Before 2012, there was no road connecting Lagyab Village with the outside. In 2012, the first road was built, so cars could drive to Lagyab. Pack animals have become a thing of history, and an asphalt road is under construction.

We work on enriching villagers' leisure time. We have made power supply available to and installed TV receivers for every household, and the television coverage is 100%. The township has a newly built and well-equipped Culture Center, where, in both the off-season and holidays, villagers can read and entrain themselves.

We try to provide education service to all pupils. The border town lacks teachers. The local government sets aside money to hire teachers to let all school age children go to school. Meanwhile, the township built its first kindergarten for preschool education. For safety reasons, the Lagyab government offers a safe ride service that picks students up to send them to school and then return them home during the holidays. In recent years, we have granted funds to herdsmen to ensure their children go to university if they pass the national entrance exam.

We try our best to provide medical services to all villagers. We introduced the pension insurance policies and a rural medical care scheme, with all of residents participating in the insurance policy. Medical staff here often delivers medicines and medical care to the patients' home, so that they do not have to leave home for minor sicknesses.

Living and working conditions in Lagyab have improved a lot as a result of the livelihood projects in the past years. The villagers‘ houses have become bigger, they have television sets, refrigerators, washing machines, and some of them even have cars.

Life is getting better, and their awareness of environment protection has increased. They voluntarily joined in the patrolling team to protect the forest, and the phenomenon of deforestation is nowhere to be seen. Nowadays, a greener Lagyab full of life features its unique charm in the border region.

As the living condition has been improved, the qualities of the people have increased accordingly. Local people now have a stronger confidence in the leadership of the CPC.

Shannan was officially named as a city this May. The local government calls for its 360,000 residents to work together for a better-off society by seizing new opportunities. It is Lagyab‘s goal and responsibility to be the first in the border areas of Tibet to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. With the "Five Development" concept as our guide, we will continually regard development as the key to solving problems; we will stabilize the growth and reform the structure by making use of industrial advantages, paving the way for an environmentally-friendly economy. All in all, Lagyab will achieve substantial development and long period of stability through our efforts.

Thank you all. (Zhang Zhao, Vice secretary of communist party and head of the township, Lagyab of Lhozhag County under Shannan City)