South China's Guangdong Province will invest more money in education and take measures to encourage enterprises to increase investment in scientific research this year.

Governor Lu Ruihua made this pledge in a speech delivered at the ongoing annual session of the provincial people's congress. The meeting opened on January 22 and will last for seven days.

Lu said he hopes for a breakthrough in the implementation of the strategy for invigorating Guangdong through science and education.

He said the provincial government will add 50 million yuan for scientific and technological research, and another 194 million yuan for education this year. With increased investment, the province last year enlarged the number of college enrollments by 54 percent compared with the 1998 figure, bringing the number of college students to 230,000.

Local enterprises have been told to use an investment equivalent to five percent of their annual total sales to finance scientific and technological research and development.

Guangdong is expected to chalk up 845.95 billion yuan in gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999, up 9.4 percent from 1998 based on comparable prices. Foreign trade in the province totaled 140.35 billion US dollars last year, up 8.1 percent over 1998.