Rural affairs, infrastructure and ecological development, cultivation of specialty industries, as well as a boost of social causes will be the main tasks of this year for the country's campaign to develop the vast western regions, according to the third plenary session of the leading group for development of western Chinese regions with the State Council held on Tuesday.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who chaired the meeting, told participants to "carry out and implement in an unswerving manner" the strategies and arrangements laid down by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council about exploring the western regions.

"It is imperative to develop west China in the light of scientific concept of development and advance the work in a down-to-earth manner," said the premier.

Participants agreed that since the campaign was launched five years ago, strides had been made, notable results had been produced in this regard, with the presence of an unprecedented promising prospects in economic and social developments of western regions.

Nevertheless, many problems and difficulties still remain in developing the country's western regions, so it will be an arduous task with a long process to develop the west, said the participants.

Education will be given priority for development, and substantial efforts should also be made to popularize the nine-year compulsory schooling among youngsters, including the implementation of a policy of exempting rural poor students from tuition fees, according to participants.

In the meantime, greater efforts should be made to prevent infectious and endemic diseases, while it is also necessary to step up the construction of a public health service network in rural areas, they said.

Moreover, the western Chinese regions were asked to expedite pace of reform and opening up to the outside world, to solve problems cropping up in the development process via reform measures, to seize the time to work out an overall plan regarding development of the western regions for the 11th five-year-plan period (2006-2010) and to improve the development of human resources and legal construction.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2005)