President Xi Jinping on Friday underscored the importance of heightened efforts in ecological protection and pursuing high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he presided over the sixth meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs. He heads the committee.

It is important to follow the principles of ecological protection and high-quality development in compiling a plan for the river basin's development, and then ensure its implementation, a statement released after the meeting said.

It also called for efforts to follow an ecology-first policy, including green development, and to enable the transformation from too much intervention and overexploitation to natural restoration and recuperation.

The meeting underlined the significance of water conservation, and listed measures to curb unreasonable water consumption. Water utilization must be transformed from inefficiency to more economical methods, the meeting decided.

Different areas must give play to their comparative strengths and develop sectors such as grain production, other agriculture, industry and commerce based on natural conditions, the statement said.

The meeting also laid great emphasis on solving the major issues in the river basin area, saying that projects such as water source conservation, mitigation of soil erosion, comprehensive treatment of air pollution and treatment of polluted soil must move forward.

Pollution control in the Yellow River Basin must be stepped up, with greater water conservation efforts to replenish the water volume in the river, the statement said.

It also urged efforts to push forward the development of city clusters, including Lanzhou and Xining, and to enable the coordinated development of cities in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

The leading role of key cities, including Xi'an and Zhengzhou, must be strengthened, the statement said, adding that city clusters in the Shandong Peninsula must play a pioneering role.

To force adjustments in industrial structure, the statement said, water should be used as an evaluation standard for land use and industrial production volume.

A project dealing with the protection of cultural heritage along the river will be implemented, and a Yellow River culture and tourism belt with international influence will be developed, the statement said.

The Yellow River Basin, which has a watershed of more than 752,000 square kilometers and covers nine provincial areas, sustains a population of 420 million people, or 30.3 percent of the nation's total, and a GDP of 2.39 trillion yuan ($343 billion), or 26.5 percent of the national total, as of the end of 2018.

Xi has always attached great importance to the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.

He presided over a symposium in Zhengzhou in September during which the region's ecological protection and high-quality development was placed on par with other national strategies, such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The meeting on Friday also included the discussion of issues involved in promoting the development of a double-city economic circle in Chongqing and Chengdu — both key cities in Southwest China.

It was decided that the leading role of Chengdu and Chongqing must be emphasized so that the area can be developed into an important economic hub and a center for scientific and technological innovation.