500 officials, experts sent to aid Xinjiang

Chinese central authorities and state-controlled enterprises on Tuesday dispatched a 522-strong group including officials, teachers and medical workers to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to support its development.

This is the latest such group to travel to the northwestern Chinese region since the central government launched this program in 1997.

More than 3,500 officials and experts from 19 relatively prosperous provinces and municipalities arrived earlier this year.

More than 70 percent of the new batch are university graduates, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

It said these people have contributed to economic and social development, safeguarding social stability.

More than half of Xinjiang's population are ethnic minorities, and the region lags behind other provinces and faces challenges in capital, technology, skills and management.