Nearly 8,700 village-level officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the country's westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will be trained to help them implement the development of a new socialist countryside, a senior regional official said at a seminar on ethnic work.

"The training, which will focus on developing grassroots CPC organizations in Xinjiang, represents a requirement for building the new socialist countryside in China," said Xiaokaiti Yiming, a leading official from Xinjiang.

He urged to the Chinese leadership to invest more in social undertakings in ethnic areas.

"The development of occupational training should be a top priority during the 2006-2010 period so as to foster large batches of high-quality and skilled workers for Xinjiang," he said.

Highway construction, building housing for farmers and herders, and water improvement project will also stand high on the list of local development projects in the future, the regional official said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2006)