China to Stage Regular Hi-Tech Fair ����China is to stage an annual international trade fair focused on the hi-tech sector starting this year to promote its use of world high and new technology, as well as to expand the export of Chinese technology. ����Zhang Xiang, vice-minister for foreign trade and economic cooperation, said at a press conference that the China Hi-Tech Fair will be jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Municipal Government of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. ����The inaugural fair will take place between October 5 and 10 in Shenzhen, which will be the permanent location of the fair. ����It will be China's third kind of international trade fair, following in the footsteps of the China Export Commodities Fair in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and the China Fair for International Investment and Trade in Xiamen of coastal Fujian Province. ����The fair will offer a place to exchange scientific and technological achievements, to exhibit hi-tech and new technological products, to contract the importing of technology and cooperation, he said. ����Zhang stressed that entrepreneurs, scientists and investors from China's mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and across the world will be invited to participate in the fair. ����It will cover such sectors as electronic information, biology and medicine, new materials, optical-electro-mechanical integration, energy-saving and environmental protection as well as other technologies ready for application. ����Zhang said that despite its short history, China's technology trade has got off to a quick start, and made remarkable progress in the 1990s. ����China signed 8,754 technology import and export contracts in 1998, with a total value of US$23.062 billion. The number of import contracts reached 6,254, involving US$16.375 billion, while export contracts added up to 2,500, involving US$6.687 billion. ����Li Zibing, mayor of Shenzhen, commented at the press conference that preparation for the fair is in full swing. The 54,000-square-meter exhibition hall is under construction, and the applying for the 1,700 exhibition stands has also started. HomeNews 1999-01-29 Page1 Full Story in Chinese