Guangdong Outlines IT Development PlanGuangdong Province, China's forerunner of the reform and opening-up drive, will promote informatization by vigorously expanding information technology in the forthcoming five years.Sources from a recent provincial meeting on local economic development and informatization said from 2001 to 2005, Guangdong is determined to accomplish a range of major tasks in expanding its IT industry. The tasks include increasing the production of electronic products, expanding the software industry, increasing information resources and promoting information services, popularizing the application of IT and promoting the technical upgrading of traditional industries, expanding e-commerce and building more information-related infrastructure. A province-wide information transmitting network will be constructed, said the sources. By the year of 2005, the province will become a central place for the exchange of information and an important e-commerce base in south China. By then, the Pearl River Delta will become a major base for production of electronic products in the world, for the making of software and for demonstrating IT's popularity and application, said the sources. A range of encouraging policies will also be introduced to support the province's development plan, according to the sources. Though the information industry is still a fledgling business, the province turned out 232.7 billion yuan (about US$28.04 billion) worth of electronic and information products, earned 184.8 billion yuan (about US$22.27 billion) in sales of related products, and exported 97.9 billion yuan (about US$11.8 billion) worth of such commodities. Guangdong is now home to 1,600 software businesses, which churned out about 15 billion yuan (about US$1.81 billion) worth of software and integrated circuits in 1999. |
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