China will provide a sounder environment for technological industrialization and high-tech cooperation in the global marketplace, officials said yesterday at the closing ceremonies of the Sixth Session of the China Beijing International High-Tech Expo.

Those policy views were shared by government ministers at a forum on industry policy at the event, which officials said has generated US$4.682 billion worth of new high-tech business or trading projects among some 224 firms or institutions.

The annual expo, which started in 1998, is a key exchange platform for researchers, enterprises and financial institutions from China and abroad.

Exhibitions, forums, trading talks and technology exchanges attracted thousands of attendees from as many as 45 nations and regions, as well as China's 31 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions.

Xu Guanhua, minister of Science and Technology, said the government will further improve legal and administrative climates to encourage technology applications and Sino-foreign high-tech cooperation.

 "We are continuing to deepen reform in China's high-tech zones, setting up operational systems in line with international practices,'' said Xu.

Meanwhile, a series of encouraging policies, involving technology property exchanges, property rights protection and establishment of second board, have been or will be offered to small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in high-tech industries, especially those with self-developed technologies.

Wang Xudong, minister of Information Industry, also emphasized that the government must conduct its administrative activities strictly according to law to guarantee equal, fair, efficient and orderly competition for high-tech domestic and overseas researchers and operators.

Concerning administrative services, Yu Guangzhou, vice minister of commerce, pointed out that it is the government's responsibility to formulate sound and practical policies, which can stimulate self-development of high technologies and attract more foreign cooperation.

The ministers indicated that China will continue expanding its high-tech cooperation with other nations and regions and open its market wider and wider to the outside world in accordance with its commitments to the World Trade Organization.

(China Daily September 16, 2003)