China will hold its first strategic forum on how to develop and harness the Yangtze, China's longest river, on Jan. 8-11.

The forum is expected to be held in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province situated on the Yangtze, and will be attended by more than 160 hydraulic academicians, engineers, experts and officials from the provinces and autonomous regions along the river.

So far, 58 dissertations have been submitted to the organization committee, on topics including the construction of the Three Gorges Dam project, embankment fortification and water resources protection, as well as the sustainable economic development along the river.

Officials from the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee believed that the forum will help speed up the harnessing and development of the Yangtze, maintain a sustainable and reasonable usage of the river's water resources and thus help support building a relatively prosperous society in the area.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2003)