"The development of software will help the country maximize its economic infrastructure and I believe it will make big contributions to the development of the national economy," said Qu Weizhi, vice-minister of information industry at the fourth International Software Exhibition which opened yesterday in Beijing's International Exhibition Center.

She predicted the annual growth of the sector will be more than 30 percent in the next five years and by 2005 market sales will amount to 175 billion yuan (US$20 billion). China's share in the world software market will grow from the current level of 1 percent to 2.2 percent.

The ministry will also foster the growth of more than 20 big software companies which will generate revenues of more than 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) each by 2005.

According to statistics from the ministry, sales in the software market reached about 55 billion yuan (US$6.65 billion) in 2000 and there are more than 10,000 software companies in China with 200,000 employees.

In the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000), the annual average growth of the sector was 27 percent and the annual growth rate in the next five years will be more than 30 percent.

However, Qu pointed out that the size of Chinese software business is still very small and most of the software companies still lag behind their counterparts in the United States and other advanced countries in terms of technologies.

She said the protection of intellectual property rights should also become a priority when developing the sector.

"If we cannot create a good environment for intellectual protection, Chinese companies will suffer and foreign companies will not dare to do business in China," she said.

Recently the General Administration of Press and Publication has warned that any institutional end users of pirate software including companies, organizations and government departments will be subject to fines and this has won acclaim from software makers.

Meanwhile, the ministry will cooperate with other governmental organizations to give preferential policies covering taxation, land use, financial funds to help software firms prosper.

The Chinese Software Industrial Association is also expected to release an industrial convention today which aims to regulate the market, curb unfair competition and fight against piracy.

The three-day event also marked the first anniversary of the issuing of the No 18 Document by the State Council to encourage the development of the software and integrated circuit industries on June 24, 2000.

Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other cities also held similar ceremonies to celebrate the event.

(China Daily 06/29/2001)