I would like to extend my warm congratulations on the symposium by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, or OIV, held in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The Helan Mountains east piedmont soil is a natural for wine grapes and an internationally recognized golden belt to grow fine wine grapes. The Ningxia government's decision to accelerate the development of the grape industry has a far-reaching influence on the autonomous region's development.

As part of its campaign to develop the grape industry, the government established the Development Bureau for Grape and Flower Industry, the first of its kind in the country. It has also organized China's first international grape association, the Helan Mountains East Piedmont International Grape and Wine Federation, and promulgated the country's first legislation on protecting wine-producing regions.

Organized by the OIV and the Ningxia government, the conference will cover grape planting and chateau management as well as grape and wine-themed tourism. It will surely promote academic and technological exchanges and help boost the grape industry's development.

Let's join hands to create the prosperity of the grape industry on the Helan Mountains east piedmont.

Finally, I wish the conference a great success.

The writer is president of the Helan Mountains East Piedmont International Grape and Wine Federation.

(China Daily USA 09/23/2013 page8)