Innovation and opening-up played an important role in boosting economic development in East China's Jiangxi province, said an official on Tuesday.

Zhuang Zhaolin, head of the publicity department of the Jiangxi Committee of the Communist Party of China, said during a news conference at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that the province has been promoting the development of digital economy, setting up funds to support entrepreneurship and cultivating talent, and accelerating the construction of inland open economy pilot zones.

Jiangxi also ramped up efforts to improve its business environment. "Jiangxi's reform to streamline administration, delegate power, improve regulation, and upgrade services has made remarkable achievements," Zhuang said.

According to Zhuang, Jiangxi now has more than 130 Fortune 500 companies, and expanded its foreign trade to 227 countries and regions. In the past ten years, the province's average annual GDP growth rate was 8.4 percent, and it has moved from 19th place to 15th place in China in terms of GDP ranking.

Zhuang said the province has also been promoting green development with a total forest coverage rate of 63.1 percent, in answering the country's call.

The province has been focusing its efforts to improve people's living environment. Measures include increasing job opportunities, improving education and healthcare, etc. To date, 25 counties and 3,058 villages in poverty in Jiangxi have gotten rid of poverty.