NDRC gears up to support Xinjiang development

BEIJING - China's top economic planning body said Wednesday that it will work to implement a variety of support policies in employment, education and poverty reduction for Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In the near term, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will focus on promoting economic and social development and improving living standards in southern Xinjiang, which has difficult geography and lower living standards, it said.

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The top economic planning agency will also speed up the building of major transportation, water conservation and agricultural infrastructure.

The NDRC's statement came as part of follow-up moves to major decisions made at the second central work conference on Xinjiang, a two-day meeting which closed last Thursday.

The meeting was held in the wake of a series of bloody terrorist attacks in the region, including one in an open air market in Urumqi, the region's capital, which left 39 people dead and 94 injured on May 20.

A priority of good governance will improve livelihood so that people from all ethnic groups feel taken care of by the Party and state, President Xi Jinping said at the meeting, vowing that the government will focus on employment, education and poverty alleviation.

To better implement the decisions of the meeting, the NDRC will deepen reform of the administrative approval mechanism, increase the efficiency of the approval process, and create a favorable investment environment.

It will also optimize the allocation of Xinjiang-supporting funds and enhance supervision and inspection over how policies aimed at boosting Xinjiang development are carried out.