Equalization of Basic Public Services is Crucial for New Rural Construction

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-03-01
Features: With the full release of public demands in China's rural areas, the supply of basic public products such as compulsory education, public healthcare, and the minimum living guarantee has become a realistic and urgent expectation for most farmers. In the new stage of China's reform and development, accelerating rural comprehensive reforms to provide farmers with essential and guaranteed public services is crucial to gradually achieve the goal of equalizing basic public services, enabling farmers to fairly share the fruits of reform and development. Over the past 15 years since its establishment, the China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute has consistently focused on rural reform as one of its key research topics. It has also hosted over 10 international seminars, producing several policy reports including granting farmers long-term and guaranteed land use rights, protecting farmers' rights, providing them with essential and guaranteed public products, promoting the steady development of farmer cooperatives, and advancing rural construction with a focus on coordinated urban-rural development. These reports have had a positive impact on relevant policy-making. On November 25–26, 2006, the China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute, in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, jointly hosted the international seminar "China's Rural Construction: Essential and Guaranteed Public Services" in Haikou. Over 200 officials, experts, and representatives from Norway and the OECD, as well as from relevant central government departments, research institutions, and 20 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) participated in the conference. The seminar discussed topics such as "Coordinated Urban-Rural Development and Rural Construction," "Essential and Guaranteed Rural Public Services and the Division of Labor among Government Levels," and "Evaluation Indicators for the Urban-Rural Development Gap."