July 8, 2016
 

July 8, 2016 -- Rita Fatiguso, China correspondent-II Sole 24 Ore, Italy (Photo by Geng Yifei /en.tibetol.cn)

July 8, 2016 -- The Forum on the Development of Tibet opened Thursday in Lhasa.

More than 130 experts, scholars and correspondents from over 30 countries and regions attended the forum which was co-hosted by the State Council Information Office and the Tibetan regional government.

The theme of this forum is “New Phase of Tibet’s Development—Innovative, Coordinated, Green, Open and Shared Development.”

Rita Fatiguso, China correspondent-II Sole 24 Ore, Italy, said:“I have been in China for 3 years, and this is my second time to Tibet. The last time I came to Tibet was 6 years ago. I think Tibet has witnessed a great change, for example, more infrastructure, more buildings, and more projects.”

“Tibet is a very big region. China puts big focus on Tibet because she doesn’t want Tibet to lag behind. A modern Tibet can play its role for the overall strategy of China. Therefore it is very important in improving Tibetans’ life quality,” said she.

Rita also spoke highly of China’s Western Development Program which aims at urbanizing rural Tibet. The program involves merging villages into the nearest town, and renaming them as one administrative unit.

“Tibetans living in more remote areas are encouraged to move closer to the administrative towns. This resettlement will allow the government to concentrate resources to make health and education facilities more easily accessible to rural population. As the government invests heavily in creating jobs in the administrative centers of urbanized villages, Tibetan areas will become more attractive to new settlers,” said she.

By: Geng Yifei