The 2004 China Small and Medium City Development Forum opened Friday in Karamay City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Delegates from 55 cities attended the forum, on the theme of scientifically constructing modern small and medium cities.

Issues such as the comprehensive and coordinated development of small and medium cities, the urbanization and modernization of cities and the communication between China's small and medium cities and their foreign peers will be discussed during the forum.

Wang Jinxiang, deputy secretary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said small and medium cities have great potentials in economic development and will thus create many jobs and play an important part in the concerted developing process of China's urban and rural areas.

China has more than 600 cities, among which over 90 percent are classified as being of small or medium size.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2004)