As the first experimental zone of rural reform in China's less-developed regions, Bijie has grown from Guizhou province's poorest region two decades ago into a thriving economic zone.

Now it sees another opportunity to speed its development and reform experiments, Qin Rupei, Party chief of Bijie, told China Daily during an exclusive interview on Sunday.

Bijie was established by the State Council as an experimental zone for "development-oriented poverty alleviation and ecological construction" in 1988 at the proposal of Hu Jintao, who was then the province's Party chief.

The region's economy has since witnessed tremendous growth.

Its GDP increased to 73.74 billion yuan ($) in 2011 from 1.78 billion yuan in 1988. Its economic power jumped from last to third place among the province's nine regions.

Significant improvement has been made in poverty relief. The number of people living below the poverty line has declined from 3.12 million to 320,000 in Bijie.

"The most important change is people's spiritual status," Qin noted. "Now they have a much more enterprising spirit and are confident about the future."

With 94 percent of its land being mountainous, Bijie used to suffer serious soil erosion and stone desertification due to excessive agricultural exploration and its vulnerable ecosystem.

Since the establishment of the experimental zone, it has endeavored to meet its goal of ecological protection while promoting economy.

Its forest has increased from 14.9 percent of the total area to 41.5 percent over the past 20 years. An area of 8,300 sq km is protected from soil erosion through minor watershed rehabilitation projects, according to Qin.

With notable achievements made, Bijie has high expectations for the future, especially since the State Council released a document in February about boosting the development of Guizhou.

The document mentioned the Bijie experimental zone 29 times and encouraged Bijie to "expand construction in the experimental zone" and "play an exemplary role by widening its reforms".

"The document presents Bijie with an extremely good opportunity," Qin said. "We'll carry forward a new round of reform in accordance with the document's integrated planning for Bijie."

According to Qin, Bijie will transform its growth pattern and improve its GDP quality to compete with more developed regions. The city has been striving to stimulate the private economy with reforms.

Currently, the contribution made by private enterprises in Bijie is still limited compared with that in the coastal regions, Qin said.

"To really vitalize our economy and increase residents' incomes, the government has adopted several core measures to help the growth of private businesses, especially small and micro enterprises," he said.

Bijie plans to set up 100 incubator parks for private enterprises, which will be provided with free land and workshops there. The government will also give financial support through tax breaks and favorable lending terms.

Contact the writers at liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn and sujiangyuan@chinadaily.com.cn