Beijing City Mayor Liu Qi on March 9 invited more multinationals to choose the Chinese capital as their base for global research and development.

Liu extended the invitation while meeting Derek Williams, senior vice-president of the US-based Oracle Corporation, one of the world's largest software firms, in Beijing.

Beijing was an intelligence-intensive city and a center of culture and education in China, said Liu, adding, "Intelligence-based industries such as software, information and services have been listed as priorities for development."

Liu believed that Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in northwestern Beijing and six organizations for training qualified software personnel would provide effective support for the development of the software industry in Beijing.

A score of multinationals, including Microsoft and IBM, have built their research and development centers in Beijing, said Liu.

Derek Williams said that his company was considering moving its R&D center from India to Beijing and congratulated Beijing on its success in winning the Olympic Games in 2008.

Oracle, which is the first major software giant to enter China, has engaged in software development in sectors ranging from telecommunications, infrastructure, local government and medium- sized and small enterprises since entering the Chinese market in 1989.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2002)