China will remarkably increase investment in science and technology in the coming 15 years, according to the national guideline on medium- and long-term program for science and technology development (2006-2020) issued by the State Council on Thursday.

The investment in research and development (R&D) will account for 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, and 2.5 percent of GDP in 2020, says the guideline.

China has continuously increased the investment in science and technology since the implementation of reform and opening up more than two decades ago.

However, compared with the developed countries and the emerging industrialized nations, the investment is still insufficient, the investment structure is not reasonable and the basic conditions for science and technology are still weak, the guideline says.

The government should play a leading role in the increase of scientific investment. And the capability of the government to coordinate the scientific resources of the whole society should be strengthened through financial and taxation policies, the guideline says.

The state financial investment will be used to mainly support basic research, frontier research, research for common good and key technology research which cannot be solved in the market mechanism,according to the guideline.

The central and local governments should ensure that the growth rate of the expenses on science and technology should be much higher than that of financial revenues, the guideline says.

China should rationally distribute the expenditures on the operation of research organizations and scientific projects, and increase the investment in popularization of science and technology, says the guideline.

China will increase the transparency and equality in the management of state scientific research projects, and set up a system to evaluate and supervise the use of the scientific expenditures, the guideline says.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2006)