Vice-Premier Wu Yi Tuesday expressed her confidence that China's software industry will continue its outstanding growth in the years to come.

Wu is one of a host of leading officials attending the Ministerial Summit on International Cooperation in Software and Information Service in the Asia-Pacific Region in this coastal city of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

She predicted that China's software sales will hit 250 billion yuan (US$30.2 billion) - with 60 percent domestically produced - and forecast that software exports will reach US$5 billion next year.

Summit participants agreed to step up cooperation to make the Asia-Pacific region a dominant player in the sector and believed China will have a major role in this process.

Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and other ministerial officials from Japan, South Korea and Malaysia also attended the gathering.

Vice-premier Wu said software exports are expected to account for a major share of China's total exports.

This will also assist the nation in its drive to upgrade its exports, selling more high-tech products on overseas markets, Wu added.

China's software sales are expected to hit 210 billion yuan (US$25 billion) this year, a year-on-year jump of 45 percent, with exports reaching US$2.5 billion, according to the Ministry of Information Industry.

China's software sector has grown rapidly since 1999, with sales reaching 160 billion yuan (US$19.3 billion) last year from 44 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion) in 1999 and exports totaling US$2 billion, compared to US$250 million in 1999.

China's software sector currently has 9,201 authorized companies, with a workforce exceeding 620,000.

A number of measures, including the establishment of a medium- to long-term strategy, improving software export management, encouraging foreign investment, strengthening intellectual property rights protection and fostering major domestic companies are the ways that China will encourage the development of its software sector, Wu said.

China welcomes investment from foreign firms in China and their joining forces with Chinese partners to promote the development of China's software and information industry, said Wu.

"We will maintain favorable policies to these companies and encourage them to establish their regional headquarters in China," she added.

Wu expected these companies to introduce more technologies into China, while the nation will continue to improve its protection of intellectual property rights.

Piracy remains a major concern for the Chinese industry, although there are signs of improvement.

According to the Development Environment Report on China's Software Industry, piracy is the third biggest factor hindering Chinese software companies' development, followed by lack of capital and low technological and business management ability.

"We have realized that good protection of intellectual property rights is important to the industry's development in China and we will work hard to this end," Wu said.

The development of China's software industry will take place against the backdrop of the industry's development throughout the Asia-Pacific region, which is growing into a center for the global software industry.

The summit passed the Dalian Declaration, which said the Asia-Pacific region has distinctive advantages in the development of software and information services, and has considerably strong supplementary advantages in the areas of technology, management, markets, costs and human resources.

Governments and industries in the region will co-operate closer in the field, the declaration said.

Forums such as the Dalian summit will be held on a regular basis, with steps taken to both increase their scale and enhance their effectiveness, the declaration stated.

Participating countries will hold frequent discussions on topics including the transfer and opening of technology, market admittance, import tariffs, quality authentication and intellectual property right protection.

The summit is the highest-level conference held during the China International Software and Information Service Fair, China's only state-level software fair.

More than 70 multinational IT companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Dell are taking part in the fair, alongside China's leading IT developers such as Lenovo, Neusoft and Digital China.

Over 260 IT application projects approved by the Northeast Revitalization Office of the State Council requiring a total investment of 4 billion yuan (US$481 million) will be presented to investors at the fair.

(China Daily July 28, 2004)