In regard to agriculture, strategies will be geared towards accelerating the transition from a traditional labor-intensive mode to modern technology-based production, Minister of Science and Technology Zhu Lilan said during a conference.

For high-tech industry, measures will be taken in such fields as agriculture, information science, environmental protection and the comprehensive use of natural resources, medicine, energy, transportation, materials, machinery, building, textiles and the light industry, sources from the ministry revealed.

Scientific departments will launch a group of projects involving ecosystem conservation, environmental protection and disaster prevention or mitigation to sustain the harmony between economic growth and population and natural resources and the environment, said Zhu.

Another important task is to upgrade tertiary industry _ mainly the service sector _ through advanced technology.

Efforts will also be made to develop technologies for national defence and civil industries, Zhu said.

The conference, drawing officials from the ministry's major divisions and those from regional scientific and technological administrations, was designed to implement the Decision on Developing High-Tech Industry and Commercializing High-Tech Findings. The decision was made by the Party Central Committee and the central government at the four-day national conference on technological innovation that concluded yesterday in Beijing.

To upgrade traditional industry through high technology, scientific administrations across the country should help spread computer-aided, energy-saving and cleaner production technologies among industrial sectors, said Zhu.

After the conference, supplementary regulations will be worked out to spur the development of high-tech industrial zones and reform personnel administration systems in research institutions, said Zhu.

(China Daily 08/27/1999)