Hebei will spare no effort to build the Xiongan New Area with forward-looking plans and higher standards, said Xu Qin, governor of north China’s Hebei Province, on the first session of the 13th Hebei Provincial People’s Congress which opened on Jan. 25.

Xu noted that in the previous year, domestic and international experts have made lots of efforts in making plans for building the new area based on the requirement of global vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics, and lofty goals.

Xu added that in 2018, the province will focus on launching a series of key projects, including high-speed railways and expressways to improve transport links of the new area and ecological one, such as the project to develop the Baiyang Lake.

In addition, the province will make every effort to attract domestic and overseas talents to the new area through institutional reforms on housing and talent introduction, the governor disclosed.

Also, supportive policies will be made for establishing a long-term fund raising mechanism and to attract quality public resources including hospitals and schools to the new area, according to Xu.

China announced plans in last April to establish the Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing and a crucial move for the millennium.

It is built to relieve Beijing of any functions that are not essential to its role as China’s capital and for coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region.