URUMQI -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended a grand gathering in celebration of the 70th founding anniversary of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in Urumqi, capital of this region in Northwest China.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, joined local officials and members of the public from all ethnic groups and all walks of life at the event.

Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the central delegation, attended this event and delivered a speech. Cai Qi, director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, was also present at the gathering. Both Wang and Cai are members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The gathering commenced at around 10:30 am. All participants stood up and sang the national anthem.

A congratulatory message from the CPC Central Committee, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the State Council, the CPPCC National Committee, and the Central Military Commission was read out at the gathering.

In his speech, Wang said that over the past 70 years, the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have achieved great successes in socialist revolution and development, and in reform and opening up, under the leadership of the CPC.

The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core formulated the Party's policies for the governance of Xinjiang in the new era, which has driven historic achievements across various undertakings in the region, Wang said.

Xinjiang, together with the rest of the country, won the battle against poverty and completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, said Wang, noting that ethnic unity in Xinjiang has been further consolidated, and the sense of community for the Chinese nation has been strengthened.

The achievements made by the autonomous region over the past seven decades have reflected the strengths of the Party's leadership and the socialist system, as well as the strong vitality of the correct and distinctively Chinese approach to handling ethnic affairs, Wang said.

He urged efforts to build a socialist modern Xinjiang that is characterized by unity, harmony, prosperity, affluence, cultural progress and a sound eco-environment, where people live and work in peace and contentment.