Beijing's two top high-tech development zones, the ZhongguancunScience Park and the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) obtained exceptional achievements at the Fifth China Beijing International High-Tech Exposition, which began on Thursday and ends tomorrow in Beijing.

Zhongguancun signed 100 cooperative agreements with a total value exceeding 13 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion) on Saturday, which involved information, high-tech incubation, bio-pharmaceutics and electronics sectors.

BDA became the biggest winner yesterday with a contractual volume for 23 projects reaching US$3.21 billion.

Zhongguancun earned strong financial support from a group of financial institutions, which will provide loans, insurance, venture capital and education funds for the development of high-tech industries in the park.

Sources from the administrative committee of Zhongguancun said that the Beijing City Commercial Bank promised to offer a 30-billion-yuan (US$3.61 billion) loan over five years to help small and medium-sized high-tech enterprises realize technological applications and industrialization, as well as further improve the infrastructure facilities in Zhongguancun.

China Ping'an Life Insurance Co Ltd and China Ping'an Insurance Co Ltd will also provide various insurance services valued at 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) for the park.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Technology Venture Capital Co Ltd and the Beijing Science Park Culture and Education Construction Co Ltd will cooperate with the Beijing High-Tech Industry Development Service Center and the Beijing Capital Technology Investment Co Ltd to establish the Zhongguancun Software Education Investment Co Ltd, with contractual investment of 130 million yuan (US$15.66 million), to offer assistance to the park's software industry.

Zhang Guilin, vice-director of the administrative committee of Zhongguancun park, said that the park's high-tech applications and industrialization need the capital support.

"Zhongguancun's rich technological and talent resources as well as its good reputation are lucrative to the financial institutions," Zhang said.

Among the contracts of BDA, overseas enterprises played a major role, with US$2.13 billion of the total coming from 10 overseas companies.

Most of the investment was for electronics information and bio-pharmaceutical industries, two pillar sectors for BDA.

Li Fengling, director with the administrative committee of the BDA, said that investors enthusiasm about the area reflected their appreciation of the environment of the BDA.

(China Daily May 27, 2002)