Premier Li Keqiang was in Chongqing on August 20, talking to local people and inspecting the impact of the aforementioned catastrophic seasonal flooding. He inspected the under-construction Dashiqiao reservoir in Tongnan district, where he emphasized the importance of water conservancy projects in preventing disasters and improving people’s livelihoods. Li Keqiang told the engineering personnel at the site to build the reservoir well. During the visit, he also visited the flood-ravaged village of Shuangba and the flood-hit ancient town of Ciqikou at the Jialing Riverbank and asked residents how the government could help them. He spoke with local merchants in the town of Ciqikou, asking about the impact of the deluge (and COVID-19) on their businesses. The State Council press note (August 20) said that Premier Li Keqiang had said more favourable policies will be promulgated to support the businesses and help them recover from the pandemic and flood’s impact. Xinhua (August 20) reported that “[T]he Premier bought three bags of fried dough twists in a local snack store, supporting the business as a customer.” The Global Times reported (August 23) that during the visit to Chongqing "Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for more efforts to ensure that hundreds of millions of market participants in the country can achieve the task of creating more than 9 million new jobs in urban areas and that the country's economy can achieve positive growth in 2020, stressing the need to properly handle development uncertainties". Li Keqiang also inspected the Changan Automobile Co and Internet of Things firm BOE Technology Group on August 21. The Premier said, "the western regions have great potential and capabilities, and should not only be active in taking over industries transferred from the east but also be brave enough to shift to the middle- and high-end of the value chain".