China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) organized the first national forum for the science and technology press Wednesday in a bid to push forward reform in the field.

The three-day forum consists of five subjects: books, journals, newspapers, audio and video publications and Internet-based publications.

Liu Binjie, deputy administrator of the State General Administration of Press and Publication, Wu Shulin, deputy secretary-general of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Hao Zhensheng, deputy director of the China Publication Research Institute, Mark Garlinghouse, vice president of Thompson Group, and Hubertus Riedesel, publication president of Springer Press, were invited to deliver speeches at the forum.

At the opening of the forum, Zhang Yutai, vice president of CAST, said reform in the science and technology press needs to keep abreast of the overall rate of reform in the country.

Professionals in this trade should cultivate new concepts for publication that are compatible to the market economy, he said.

Press professionals, managers of publishing houses, researcher sat institutes and representatives from well-known global press companies are participating in the forum.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2004)