BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang has urged other domestic regions to step up their support of northwestern Xinjiang's development in the new round of "pairing assistance" projects.

The round, unveiled by the Chinese central government at a high-level meeting in March of last year, requires 19 provinces and municipalities to support the development of Xinjiang.

While hailing the project's successes to date, Zhou called upon various supporting regions and their beneficiary regions in Xinjiang to "unswervingly give priority to people's livelihoods and map out scientific implementation plans" for the projects.

Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during his inspection of the progress of the "pairing assistance" program in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from May 5 to 9.

While inspecting the reconstruction of shanty houses and construction projects for affordable homes at county levels, Zhou urged local officials and those from supporting regions to ensure high-standard designs and high-quality construction in order to improve the living conditions of the local people as soon as possible.

Zhou also visited the No. 18 Elementary School in Kashgar, where he watched a stage play performed by students and attended a math class taught in Mandarin Chinese.

The school, built under the assistance of southern economic hub Shenzhen, is equipped with modern teaching facilities and a new rubber-plastic playing field.

In addition to visiting factories, communities and villages, Zhou also heard work reports on the assistance for Xinjiang by officials from Beijing, Tianjin, Anhui, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong and Shenzhen during his inspection.