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)