Apart from discussing and deciding national affairs as legislators, NPC deputies from different parts of the country have other missions to accomplish at their annual session.

Delegation heads, usually heads of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, take time to meet with the media and organize publicity campaigns for their own regions.

Press conferences arranged by delegations from western China indicate they have indeed grasped the golden chance to introduce their less-developed area of China to the outside world. Record numbers of reporters have shown up at the invitation of the deputies to such gatherings.

Xinjiang's choice

Taking the lead in organizing the promotions among the 30-odd delegations, Xinjiang held a press conference the second day after Premier Wen Jiabao delivered his work report on March 5.

Zhang Qingli, NPC deputy and vice-chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said Xinjiang should make good use of its rich natural resources and industrial foundation to speed up its economic and social development.

Zhang said the autonomous government is considering a new model for its development drive.

In the past, Xinjiang's development was mainly concentrated on its agricultural sectors, including farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries.

But secondary industries and the services sector are underdeveloped in the region.

To accelerate economic development, the local government is shifting its priority to fields with high-added values, such as petrochemicals and downstream agricultural products.

Zhang is confident of an economic take-off in the next few years.

"With plentiful reserves of oil, natural gas, coal and minerals, the region is full of potential."

Zhang said 2003 and 2004 saw a fast pace in Xinjiang's economic and social development along with the country's western development campaign launched in 1999.

Its economic output has maintained double-digit growth for two consecutive years, with fixed-asset investment reaching 120 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion), while fiscal revenue and foreign trade have also registered rapid growth.

However, Zhang pointed out that compared with other provinces, the autonomous region - which covers one-sixth of total China's territory - still needs greater efforts in "catching up."

Promoting border trade has been high on the government's development agenda, said Zhang.

Situated in the most western part of China, Xinjiang neighbours eight countries. At present, 27 land ports have been set up along its 5,600-kilometre-long border to encourage booming international trade.

Zhang said the government has also decided to develop tourism into a major revenue contributor.

The autonomous region has signed co-operative agreements with a number of neighbouring countries such as Russia, India and Pakistan, paving the way for organized tours to these countries.

Xinjiang is world-famous for its ancient Silk Road and also home to many ancient cultural sites and contemporary monuments. Some 154 of the sites are listed under State-level protection.

Currently, Xinjiang has 324 travel agencies and 277 high-class hotels, including seven five-star hotels.

Naim Yasen, director of the regional tourism bureau, told Xinhua that the autonomous region earned 11.56 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) from the tourism business in 2004, a record high.

Of the total revenue, 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) came from domestic tours, a rise of 23 per cent over the previous year, while overseas tourists, numbering 316,900, contributed US$91 million, a year-on-year increase of 87 per cent, he said.

Sichuan's way out

Sichuan, well-known for its agriculture and huge population of farmers, has decided to develop other sectors to fatten the wallets of rural residents.

"How to foster new revenue sources should top our agenda," said Zhang Zhongwei, governor of Sichuan Province.

Developing animal husbandry is a good choice to increase revenues, the governor suggested.

The province is one of China's largest pork exporters and has been doing all it can to encourage development in the pig-raising industry.

Zhang said it is true that agriculture is the only source of revenues for many county and township governments in Sichuan.

Farmers in the province were exempted from agricultural taxes at the beginning of this year.

Scrapping agricultural taxes is just the first step in developing agriculture and there will surely be many new problems, the governor said.

"But we should never develop the economy at the cost of having farmers burdened," said Zhang.

Zhang also listed development of tourism in his province as high on the agenda.

Xi'an: Problem of talent

For Sun Qingyun, mayor of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, attracting more talented people to the ancient city would become a key priority for his government.

The ongoing "western development" campaign is creating unprecedented opportunities for the western region to lure talented people from home and abroad, said Sun, also an NPC deputy.

Being at the gateway of the vast western areas, Xi'an plans to step up efforts to make life easier and more comfortable for professionals living and working there.

Headed by Sun, a delegation of Xi'an High-tech Industries Development Zone organized a forum in Beijing to attract high-level professionals during the NPC session. About 500 candidates attended the event over the weekend to apply for high-level positions in the zone.

A package of preferential policies, such as the issuance of subsidies for high-level personnel, were announced by the State-level high-tech zone.

A co-operative relationship has been established between the zone and more than 20 countries, said Jing Junhai, head of the zone's administrative committee.

Jing added that more than 600 foreign-funded companies, including some world top 500 firms, have entered the zone with a total investment of US$1.2 billion.

National blueprint

China launched its western development strategy in 1999 to help the relatively lagging area, which includes 12 provinces, autonomous regions and Chongqing Municipality, to try to catch up with East China.

The vast western regions include half of the nation's territory and are home to one-fourth of its population. At the same time, it boasts rich natural resources, a cheap labour supply and enjoyable ecological environment in some places.

But the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the region is only about 65 per cent of the nation's average.

Since 1999, a series of preferential policies, such as more governmental investment, preferential tax rates and flexible tactics, are included in the strategy.

All the efforts have gradually paid off and the average annual GDP growth rate in the area has stood as high as 10 per cent during the 2000-2004 period, 2.8 percentage points higher than that in 1999.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in his work report that the western development strategy would still be one of China's top priorities.

China will continue to plunge huge investment into western regions over the next five years to develop it into an investment magnet for both domestic and overseas investors.

He urged governments at all levels to continue to speed up economic and social development there.

Li Zibin, deputy director of the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development at the State Council, said the government will continuously invest huge amounts of money to build up local infrastructure and improve the ecological environment.

Li said the next five years are very important to make further improvements in environmental protection, communications and poverty relief in western China.