Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, has said that Tibet is in its best ever period of development.

Tibet's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2006 was 29.03 billion yuan, up 13.2 percent over the previous year, and the per capita GDP exceeded 10,000 yuan.

The growth hit a record high in the past decade, and the year 2006 was the sixth consecutive one that Tibet recorded an economic growth of more than 12 percent, Qiangba Puncog said, quoting the figures at the ongoing annual session of the Tenth National Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

Great changes have taken place in Tibet's rural and pastoral areas with the building of a new countryside. A total of 290,000 farmers and herdsmen moved to new houses last year.

Urban per capita disposable income rose to 8,932 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2 percent. Rural per capita net income grew by a record 13.1 percent in the past decade to 2,350 yuan.

Tax revenue from the non-public sector of economy increased 41 percent last year to 975 million yuan, accounting for 58 percent of the total tax revenue, which is the first time that the non- public sector contributed more to tax revenue than the public sector.

Besides, the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet railway last July, which linked the region more closely with other parts of China, and the reopening of border trade at the Nathu La Pass bordering China and India gave impetus to the development of Tibet, Qiangba Puncog said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)