Basic Economic Situation

Since New China was founded, in particular since the reform and opening to the outside world, all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have been insisting on the basic guidelines and policies of the Party under the guidance of the Party Central Committee, the State Council and  the Party committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the regional national autonomy policy of the Party as well, handling correctly the relation between reform, development and stability, taking economic development as the focus, promote the radical change of economic structure and economic growth mode, implement positively advantage resources transform stratagem, the strategy of rejuvenating Xingjiang via science and education, and sustainable development strategy, thus the growth of economy and the progress of society in Xinjiang are remarkable.

The holistic national economy strength increases remarkable with a national economy system based on agriculture and led by industry. The GDP is 136.4 billion in 2000, 7.7 times more than in 1978 by annual average growth rate of 10.3%. The industrial structure has been optimized gradually and the proportion of the first, second and tertiary industries is adjusted from 35.8：47.0：17.2 in to 21.1：43.0：35.9. The financial revenue increase greatly with local fiscal revenue of Xinjiang 9.55 billion yuan in 2000 by annual average growth rate of 12.5%, which is 12.4 times more than that in 1978.

The industrial economy increase rapidly and a complete industrial system has formed consisting of steel, coal, petroleum, machinery, chemistry, building materials, textile, sugar-making, paper-making, leather and cigarette etc. The industrial value added in 2000 is 42.2 billion yuan, which is 6.6 times more than in 1978. With the resources superiority of Xinjiang, a batch of leading products and superior industries with Xinjiang characteristics appear and the main industrial products increase greatly. The output of crude oil is 18.484 million tons, which is 4.2 times more than in 1978 and the output of crude oil holds the third place in China, and the processing of crude oil the fifth place. Raw coal is 27.989 million tons, 1.6 times more than in 1978; generating capacity 18.3 billion kilowatt hours, 7.6 times more than in 1978.

The infrastructure construction is of important achievement and the investment environment improves obviously. Over the past most than twenty years, the accumulative total investment is 418.5 billion yuan and in 2000, the total investment in fixed assets is 61.04 billion yuan. A lot of key projects have been built and put into operation such as Phase I of Tarim Agricultural Irrigation and Environmental Protection Project, Wuluwati Key Water-control Project, Phase I of Erqis Valley Development Project, South Xinjiang Railway and its western extending project, North Xinjiang Railway, Multiple Track of Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway, Desert Road, Turpan-Urumqi-Dahuangshan High Standard Highway, Urumqi-Kuitun Freeway, Optical Fiber Cable Project for south and north Xinjiang, Project of Secondary Optical Fiber Cable coming out of Xinjiang, and Manas Power Plant etc. At present, the mileage open to road traffic in Xinjiang is 34.6 thousand km, and a Uruqmi-centered road traffic network with framework of national highway trunk line forms. The length of railroad lines in service is 3010.2km, and there are 61 air routes within and outside of Xinjiang with total mileage 153 thousand km. Urumqi International Airport is one of important hub airports in China, and Xinjiang becomes the province having most terminals and longest air route in China. Posts and telecommunications develop also quickly with increasingly increased popularization rate of telephone and the popularization rates of telephone in townships and villages have been 98.3% and 56% respectively. The improvement of infrastructure conditions establishes a solid foundation for national economy development.

The opening level to the outside world of Xinjiang is improved increasingly, and an omnidirectional, multilayer and wide-domain pattern of opening to the outside world has formed along the frontier, the Asia-European Railway and the main lines of communication, which has become the front line of China opening to west. Xinjiang has 67 open cities and counties as well as 16 open ports approved by the state, in addition to two state-level economic and technical development zones and one state-level new- and high-tech development zone and three border economic cooperation zones, also established trade relation with more than 70 countries and regions over the world. The frontier trade develops quickly. In 2000, the total volume of foreign trade is 2.26 billion US dollars, which is 91.8 times more than that in 1978; the size utilizing foreign capital increases and the accumulative total of direct investment by foreign businessmen is 389 million US dollars in 2000. Urumqi Trade Fair has been held for nine sessions successfully since 1992. In 2000, Xinjiang receives tourists at home and abroad 256 thousand person-times, and the tourism earning in foreign exchange is 94.94 million US dollars.

All facts social in Xinjiang are making great progress and the technological strength reinforced increasingly. In the end of 2000, the specialized technical personnel in Xinjiang is up to 368 thousand; in addition to 140 independent R&D institution at county level or above, and 991 private scientific and technological enterprises; since 1979, 5301 important scientific and technological achievements have been obtained, including 111 state-level award. The education develops steadily and there are 20 colleges and universities in 2000 with 72.9 thousand school students, 6.1 times more than in 1978; nine-year compulsory education has been implemented in 65 counties and cities; the ethnic group education is of remarkable achievement and the school students of ethnic groups is 67.2% of school students in Xinjiang. The cultural undertaking is prosperous with 89.8% radio population and 92.2% TV population. The conditions of medical treatment and sanitation are also improved greatly and the 3-level (county, township and village) medical networks of prevention and healthcare consolidated further. Mass sports activities develop widely as well as competitive sports with remarkable achievement. The living standard of people in urban and suburb area is improved a lot. In 2000, the disposable income per capita of urban resident in Xinjiang is 5817 yuan which is 17.3 times more than in 1978; the net income per capita of farmers is 1618 yuan with an increment of 12.6 times; the living spaces per capita of urban residents and farmers are increased respectively from 5.42 and 7.8 m2 in 1980 to 15.3 and 17.3 m2 in 2000.

In order to expedite the development of Xinjiang, we are determined to enlarge opening to the outside world and develop the economic and trade relation with other provinces, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions as well as other countries and regions over the world. Welcome to participate in Xinjiang development and construction in different modes on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit.