Xinjiang Launches State-Level Economic Zone

Xinjiang Launches State-Level Economic Zone

The state-level Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone was inaugurated Monday in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China.

Li Shuxian, director of the administrative committee of the zone, said that the zone will focus on the development of the textiles industry, high-tech industries such as bio-chemistry, chemicals and information, and equipment manufacturing based on electronics and microelectronics industries.

Prior to 1992, when the work on the zone began, the area was an important base of agriculture and animal husbandry, and light industries in Xinjiang.

Statistics show that the gross domestic product, industrial added value and revenue of the zone all increased at a rate of 40 percent annually over the past seven years.

The Shihezi Zone is located in the economic belt on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountain, a major economic development zone in Xinjiang.