Drive against terrorism in Xinjiang shows result(2)

A SWAT team member during a drill in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Monday, Dec 29, 2014. [Photo by Fang Tao / Xinhua]

Besides causing casualty of the civilians, terrorist attacks have also slowed down the economic growth of the region in 2014.

Although the growth rate of Xinjiang's GDP reached 10 percent in 2014, which is above the national average growth rate of 7.4 percent, it is very likely to meet the 11 percent growth rate target set at the beginning of 2014.

Affected by terrorist attacks in the region, the number of tourists visiting Xinjiang has dropped stunting the tourism-related catering businesses and retail markets. It has dragged down the region's GDP growth by 0.7 percentage point, according to the report from the regional development and reform committee released on Tuesday.

Despites the central government's plan to make Xinjiang a core trade hub linking China and Central Asian countries on the Silk Road Economic Belt proposed by President Xi Jinping in September 2013, the import and export volume in the region only increased by 0.4 percent year-on-year, which is 7.6 percentage point lower than expected and the slowest growth in the past five years.

The growth is expected to pick up in 2015 because the countries along the economic belt will speed up construction of infrastructure, which will boost the export for iron and steel as well as machineries, the committee said.

Shohrat said increasing employment in southern Xinjiang, which is relatively less developed and giving priority to education are the keys to ensure the region's long-term stability.

"The regional government will provide vocational trainings for all junior or senior high school graduates in southern Xinjiang and teach them the national common language of China so they could find suitable employment," he said.

Xinjiang will also support Han Chinese students and students from other ethnic groups studying together in the same schools instead of going to schools just for Han students or ethnic students. They will also be encouraged to sit in the same class and live in the same dormitory, Shohrat added.

It is the first time that Shohrat delivered the government work report after Nur Bekri, former chairman, was appointed as the head of the National Energy Administration, the country's top energy agency and deputy director of the National development and Reform Commission on January 1.