Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said Guangdong province had undergone overwhelming changes since China's policy of reform and opening to the outside world was initiated over two decades ago, and accumulated a lot of experience in the promotion of modernization and opening-up of the whole country.

Guangdong province should make active efforts to explore new development paths, said Hu, adding that the innovation of science and technology as well as the cultivation of more talents and skills would form new development advantages.

The adherence to Party leadership and persistent improvement in its construction was the key factors to fulfill the goals and tasks proposed at the 16th Party Congress held in mid Nov. last year, President Hu said.

In the company of Zhang Dejiang, secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, and provincial Governor Huang Huahua, Hu inspected during his visit ports and harbors, enterprise workshops, urban communities, rural villages and farmers' homes in the cities of Zhanjiang, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou, the provincial capital, where he had chatted cordially with local workers, farmers and officials at the grassroots level.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)