Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo has urged northwest China's Shaanxi Province to stick to the "scientific concept of development" in seeking economic growth and social progress.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, made this call during his inspection tour of Shaanxi between November 9 and 12.

He has said that Shaanxi must speed up the readjustment of its economic structure, stress efficiency in development, improve its capability of scientific and technological innovation and shift its economic growth mode, thus paving the way for a more scientific economic and social development.

Wu, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, spoke highly of Shaanxi's efforts to improve the living standard of the local people.

Shaanxi should seize the historical opportunity arising from China's "western development" strategy, and make good use of its advantages to seek a better development, Wu said.

He added that Shaanxi should regard the growth mode shift as something of "strategic importance," and try to realize it through improving the population quality, saving energy and reducing pollution, and highlighting social and economic benefits.

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2005)