Xinjiang to be more open

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Nur Bekri speakes in a news conference in this March 7, 2010 file photo. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

URUMQI - China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will be more open than ever before to accelerate its development, the regional government chairman Nur Bekri has said.

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"At present, we need to be more open than ever before, and in the future, we will, as always, further increase opening up," Nur Bekri told a symposium on Xinjiang's opening-up on Monday.

"There has been a wide gap between Xinjiang's development and coastal provinces since the reform and opening up policy was introduced more than 30 years ago, the major reason of which is the level of Xinjiang's opening up is not enough yet," Nur Bekri said.

Xinjiang has become a frontier of China's westward opening and it has built up economic and trade relationships with 160 countries and regions, he said.

The regional government is drafting a development plan of westward opening up, he said.

The region now has 29 open ports to neighboring countries and 12 national industry zones. The Sino-Kazakhstan oil pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline have been completed and put into use.

Totally 308 enterprises which are among the world's top 500 companies and China's 500 leading enterprises had entered Xinjiang by the end of 2010, up by 113 from 2009.