Nur Bekri was elected chairman of the government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday and Arken Imirbaki senior legislator at the regional People's Congress.

Nur Bekri had been appointed acting chairman of the regional government by the congress last month.

A member of the Uygur ethnic group, he was born in August 1961 in Bole, Xinjiang. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in December 1982. He has served as deputy party secretary of the Xinjiang Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China since January 2005.

Arken Imirbaki, also of the Uygur ethnic group, was elected chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, or head of the regional legislative body.

He was born in 1953 and became vice chairman of the Xinjiang regional government in 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)