Shanghai has set the goal of increasing local industrial added value by 9 percent this year, and securing the future of the sector for the next ten years.

Local industry completed 175.8 billion yuan in added value lastyear, up 9.6 percent over the 1998 figure, and earned 20.9 billionyuan in profits from January to November in 1999, a 29.2 percent rise on a yearly basis.

Shanghai completed nine major industrial projects last year andimported technology for 40 other major industrial projects.

Local industrial enterprises also intend to see profits grow by10 percent this year.

Shanghai plans to invest 62 billion yuan in industrial fixed assets in 2000, and 31 billion yuan in upgrading industrial technologies, and to attract three billion US dollars of contractual overseas money.

The asset-to-liability ratio of local industrial enterprises is scheduled to be reduced to below 50 percent, and the industrial production-to-sale ratio will be retained at above 97 percent.

Shanghai will also accelerate the construction of 25 large industrial projects each with an investment of over 200 million yuan, and complete 37 each with more than 50 million yuan of investment.

Shanghai vows to spare no effort to improve its industrial production and seize every opportunity to strengthen local industry.