China is to invest more in education and step up training for
qualified personnel in a bid to achieve sustainable development, a
senior Chinese official said at the opening of the 2002
International Human Resources Forum Sunday in Beijing.
Jiang Zhenghua, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress (NPC), said the development of a skills
base played an important role in promoting economic growth, adding
this had been proved by experience of many countries.
The on-going forum is the first high-level professional forum on
human resources since China's entry into the World Trade
Organization a year ago.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a
congratulatory letter to the forum, and said he was pleased to see
China's efforts to meet the challenges of globalization, and hoped
that forum would contribute to international exchanges and
cooperation in the sphere of human resources.
Maurice Strong, UN Under-Secretary-General, noted that the future
development of various nations, in a sense, would hinge on the
development of their human capital. China, which possessed the
richest human resources in the world, had come to realize the
significance of people in its sustainable development.
He
expressed the belief that China would play a more critical role in
the world arena with the rapid development of its human
capital.
About 300 human resources experts with the United Nations and other
international agencies are attending the forum to discuss the
exploration and management of human capital and international
exchanges and cooperation in the field.
The forum is co-sponsored by the China Reform and Development Forum
Committee, the UN-Global Compact China Center and the Institute of
Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Science with the
special support of the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General
and UN Human Resources Bureau.
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2002)