¡¡¡¡MOSCOW, Oct. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- China's Tibet has made eye-catching achievements in its modernization drive over the past 50 years, with tremendous support from the central government and assistance from other ethnic groups in the country, a Tibetologist said here on Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡Suolanduoji, head of a Tibetologist delegation, was briefing the Russian media on developments in all fields in Tibet. He saidTibet had entered a period of rapid and high quality development, with significant achievements in the political, economic and cultural fields.

¡¡¡¡The central government had attached great importance to the economic development of Tibet with capital investments and subsidies to the region reaching more than 40 billion yuan (4.84 billion US dollars) in the past 50 years, Suolanduoji said.

¡¡¡¡In the period from 1995 to 2000, the other regions of China aided Tibet in its 716 projects totaling 3.156 billion yuan (382 million dollars), which covered the fields of agriculture, industry, communications, energy, education, culture, health, radio and television, the Tibetologist said.

¡¡¡¡In 2000, the foreign trade volume of Tibet reached 130.29 million dollars, he noted.

¡¡¡¡Suolanduoji said Tibetans have also enjoyed freedom of religionas guaranteed by law, and cultural relics and historical sites arewell protected.

¡¡¡¡The delegation arrived in Moscow Monday for a one-week visit. Enditem