An international seminar started in Beijing on December 15 to discuss the growth and fund raising issues facing China's forestry industry under the market economy and outline the development strategy for the future.

The two-day seminar is co-sponsored by the China Development Bank (CDB), the State Administration of Forestry (SAF) and the World Bank (WB).

Chen Yuan, president of CDB, said that as a policy bank, CDB provides loans to support the country's key projects in infrastructure, basic and pillar industries. Its total amount of loans has hit more than 600 billion yuan (72 billion US dollars).

He said that previously, CDB's funds in forestry were mainly used in exploiting natural forests. But in the coming years, the bank will focus on building large and fast-growing forest conservation projects and protecting natural forests, in line with the country's "Natural Forest Projects in Selected Areas," he said.

The World Bank, one of the earliest to back China's forestry industry, has injected 800 million US dollars into six large forestry projects over the past decade.

Juergen Voegele, acting head of the WB residential office in Beijing, said that WB is willing to "establish a new partnership" with China to help solve new problems that emerge in the forestry industry's transformation period.

He said that WB will do its utmost to provide China with needed funds, technological assistance and related consultation services.

China's forestry industry has made considerable achievements in the past two decades since the opening-up policy began. Its forestation coverage ratio rose from 12 percent to the current 13. 92 percent. The figure is expected to reach 18.2 percent in 2005, and 19 percent in 2010, according to an official with the SAF.

To achieve the goal, said SAF's Director Wang Zhibao, China has worked out its 21st-century-oriented development strategy that focuses on promoting local development, readjusting the economic structure and pushing forward modern forestry construction. (Xinhua)