China's central SOEs further assist Xinjiang in expanding employment

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have intensified efforts to assist Xinjiang in expanding employment since 2022, pledging to further support high-quality development in Xinjiang.

According to a conference held by the Xinjiang government and China's top state-asset regulator on Monday, the central enterprises' work in assisting the development of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has achieved remarkable results in the past two years. A total of 227 projects, backed by 41 central SOEs, have been slated for investment totaling approximately 1.1 trillion yuan (about 155 billion U.S. dollars).

The investments span various sectors, including petroleum, natural gas, coal, new energy, transportation, environmental protection, communications, healthcare and infrastructure construction. Over the past two years, these endeavors have cumulatively created jobs for approximately 251,000 people, said Chen Weijun, vice chairman of the regional government of Xinjiang.

Combining their own advantages with the reality of Xinjiang, the central enterprises attending the conference have devised plans to support industries in Xinjiang between 2024 and 2026. Over a three-year span, they intend to invest in 133 projects totaling nearly 695 billion yuan, with plans to hire 33,000 new employees.

Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, stated that in order to support the development of Xinjiang, central SOEs would further optimize industrial cooperation, boost investment in emerging technologies, sectors and markets, cultivate new quality productive forces, and continuously expand employment capacity through industrial development. ■