Northeast China's Liaoning Province will set up a Sino-Russian science center soon, according to officials from the Liaoning Provincial Personnel Department.

The center will be established at the Shenyang Institute of Technology (SIT) by the end of this year, Dr Yao Jun said Tuesday at a high-tech exhibition and symposium to introduce foreign experts and projects at Liaoning.

Yao told the China Daily that the project has been approved by the Shenyang municipal government. Now the institute is waiting for the final approval from Liaoning provincial government.

The center will work as the sub-center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and as the platform of cooperation between the two countries.

"Liaoning and Russia will strengthen cooperation in the fields of technology and personnel. I believe this will provide an excellent opportunity for Liaoning's revitalization and achieve a win-win result," said Zhang Wenyue, governor of Liaoning Province.

This is the third time for Liaoning Province to hold such a conference. The first two were held in 2001 and 2002.

More than 160 experts from Russia have been in Liaoning and domestic enterprises involved are around 4,000, according to Wang Chuansheng from Liaoning Provincial Personnel Department.

"They play a very important role in Liaoning's development, especially in the field of materials and military science," said Wang.

Russia is advanced in many fields such as material sciences and mechanics, which are key industries in Liaoning.

(China Daily May 19, 2004)