BEIJING — Vice-Premier Liu He on July 18 called for efforts to boost industrial vitalization and innovation-driven development in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a written speech at the "Silk Road Academician Forum: Promote Innovation and High Quality Development," which commenced on the same day in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

As a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xinjiang is transforming from a hinterland into a frontier of opening-up and ushering in a period of strategic opportunities for high-quality development, said Liu.

Efforts should be made to introduce more talent and intellectual resources into Xinjiang and push the region's high-quality development to a new level, Liu said, expecting Xinjiang to play a greater role in serving national strategies.