Xi stresses coordinated, green and open model

He praised the region's accomplishments in the elimination of absolute poverty in rural areas, but said there is still a long way to go to address the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development and narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas in order to ultimately realize people's comprehensive development and common prosperity.

Saying that Inner Mongolia's ecological system is fragile and the region faces difficulties and challenges in consolidating the results of poverty alleviation and pushing for rural vitalization, Xi asked the region to develop advantageous industries to increase people's incomes and prevent those who have been lifted out of poverty from becoming poor again.

He stressed the importance of environmental protection in the region and urged it to stick to green development. Concrete efforts should be made to strengthen protection of the ecological system to make it more stable and sustainable, he added.

Five NPC deputies from Inner Mongolia made speeches during the meeting on issues such as developing modern agriculture, high-quality growth in border areas, forest conservation, education and rural vitalization.

During the discussions, Xi also stressed the importance of promoting ethnic unity, and asked the region to earnestly take part in the Party history learning and education campaign.

In January 2018, Xi was unanimously elected by the People's Congress of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region as a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.

On Friday afternoon, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng, who are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, took part in discussions with the delegations of the regions that elected them to the NPC.