A senior Chinese official has said it is vital to accelerate the development of science, technology and education in western China.

State Councilor Chen Zhili made the call during an inspection tour of Chongqing, an important industrial city on the upper reaches of the mighty Yangtze River, from Nov. 14-16.

Efforts should be made to promote the industrialized application of scientific and technological achievements and to train qualified personnel in order to help the economy take off in western China, said Chen.

Accompanied by municipal leaders, Chen visited three colleges of higher learning, including Southwest China University of Agriculture, two fairs and an exhibition on China's first successful manned space mission.

Chen congratulated the university on its cooperation with the Beijing Gene Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in completing the world's first draft genome map of the silkworm.

While calling for a better job in rural education and fulfilling the goal of popularizing nine-year compulsory education in western China by the year 2007, the state councilor urged great efforts to be taken to develop long-distance education so that the best educational resources could be shared and the quality of education could be improved.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2003)