Top priority should be given to improving the ecology and protecting the environment during the development of China's western regions, Premier Zhu Rongji has stressed.

Addressing the third meeting of the Leading Group under the State Council for the Development of Western China on Friday, Zhu also called for more efforts to improve the infrastructure and scientific and educational undertakings in the west.

Businesses from eastern regions were cautioned not to transfer their polluting industrial facilities to the country's west, and warned against excessive real estate development.

Reafforesting farmland not suited to farming is one of the country's major undertakings, officials at the meeting said. Meanwhile, the program to protect the country's grassland from overgrazing should be put on top of China's agenda.

They also called for the restoration of natural grasslands and better water management.

(China Daily October 14, 2002)