China will strive to cultivate about 10 large high-and-tech export-oriented enterprises or multinationals, disclosed Wei Jianguo, deputy Minister of Commerce at a national working conference on Invigorating Trade with Science and Technology held in Beijing on January 7.

Meanwhile, China will develop about 100 backbone enterprises dedicated to the exportation of high-and-new-tech products and a large group of private, small and medium-sized enterprises of such kind, said Wei.

According to Wei, the emphasis must be highlighted to constantly deepen invigorating trade with science and technology. Measures should include:

--backing the exportation of key high-and-new tech products with the five national software export bases in Shanghai, Dalian, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Xi'an as the pilot and expanding the nation's export of software;

--actively offering support for high-and-new tech fields such as modern agriculture, biomedicine, new materials and energy sources and environmental protection;

--supporting the exportation of high-and-new tech products with independent intellectual property rights;

--strengthening technological support and after-sale services, actively cultivating and encouraging export of name brands;

--optimizing the market structure for the export of high-and-new tech products to ensure a sustainable development of foreign trade;

--actively promoting the four big high-tech expos such as Shenzhen High-tech Fair to a more professional level and creating a favorable environment to make the clinched deals more practicable.

It's learned that eight departments, including China's Ministry of Commerce, State Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Finance, will further consummate the inter-ministerial joint work mechanism for invigorating trade with science and technology this year. The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) will also join the mechanism.

(People's Daily January 9, 2004)