An internet-based office system supported by web techniques has been launched recently in the Tianjin Development Zone, establishing the first online government in north China's leading port city.
The new system, which handles a variety of affairs including taxation and foreign trade business supervision via the internet, will improve service and work efficiency, said government officials.
A good foundation has been laid for turning the zone into a digital area as a broad-band network has already been built in the zone. A fiber-optic network has entered factories, companies, schools and households in the zone, which boasted about 31.2 billion yuan (3.8 billion U.S dollars) of gross domestic product ( GDP) last year, up 25 percent on a year-on-year base.
Sources said that a new electronic government is likely to upgrade the overall service level in the near future.
The Tianjin Development Zone, as one of the largest and the most profitable development zones in China, has so far attracted more than 3,000 enterprises with 170,000 employees.
(China Daily March 10, 2002)
