China will speed up the development of bioindustry, making it the leading industry of the national economy, according to a conference held by the State Council on Wednesday.

The meeting, attended by Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and State Councilor Chen Zhili, emphasized the strategic importance of developing bioindustry in areas like health, agriculture, energy and materials.

It also required that China should create better financing environment for high-tech industries, unify the technological standards and improve the protection of intellectual property rights.

In the meantime, the country should also strengthen the protection of biological resources with more effective supervision on related exploitation, according to the meeting.

China now ranks the world's third largest in terms of the scale of high-tech industries, propelling the country's economic growth and the industrial restructuring, the meeting said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)