This is the first time a China-made contraceptive product has entered the world market en masse, said Zhang Weiqing, director of the State Family Planning Commission (SFPC).

The condoms, produced by Guilin Latex Plant in south China, will be donated to developing and undeveloped countries by the UNFPA.

In addition, a condom made by Qsingdao Shuangdie Group in east China's Shandong Province has been appointed as a product to be used in a Sino-British cooperation project for the control of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS.

Zhang said that China's first exposition on new technology and products in the family planning and reproductive health fields, which will be held in Beijing on World Population Day on July 11, has drawn worldwide attention.

A number of international organizations and governmental organs and business firms in many countries will participate in the expo.

China-made contraceptives have long been ignored by the international market and used only in the internal market, Zhang noted.

He said that the expo will help promote the awareness of Chinese contraceptive products in the market of the developing countries, and increase the capacity of China's reproductive health industry to compete on the international market.

Zhang Yuqin, deputy director of the SFPC, said that China's annual condom production capacity is 3.1 billion, but only 2.2 billion condoms were produced in the country in 2000.

"There is great potential in production," said Zhang.

The expo, the first event in this field in China, demonstrates that the country has turned its family planning focus more to reproductive health than just to population control, and is beginning to pay more attention to people's individual needs, said Zhang.

The expo's theme is population control depends on scientific and technological advances, and research and cooperation should be encouraged. China should develop and spread new technology and products for reproductive health and open up related industries, the official said.

Around 400 domestic and overseas research institutes, enterprises and international organizations will attend the expo. Lectures and symposiums will be included in the four-day event.

(People's Daily 06/29/2001)