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The Chinese Government will allocate 1 billion yuan (US$120
million) per year to support small and medium-sized technological
firms, officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology
said on Wednesday.
To help the enterprises, the government is also expanding venture
capital systems, which are still in development but can give
financial support to industrial firms, said Shi Dinghuan, an
official of the ministry's Department for High-Tech Development
and Industrialization.
Shi made the remarks at a Sino-American conference of "Partnering
and Investing Opportunities: Practical Tools to Promote High-Tech
Small and Medium Enterprises" held in Beijing.
In the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), more efforts will
be made to develop such programmes as information technology,
the manufacturing industry, energy, environmental protection,
transportation and communications, Shi said.
He added the State will create a more favorable climate for
domestic enterprises to cooperate with their foreign counterparts
in high-tech industries, through implementing preferential financial
and taxation policies.
China has more than 70,000 small and medium-sized technological
firms employing 3.3 million people.
The 70,000 firms registered an industrial output of 600 billion
yuan (US$72 billion) last year, according to the ministry.
The conference, sponsored by the ministry and the US Department
of Commerce, attracted 100 entrepreneurs and venture capital
specialists from both countries.
Richard Thurston, a lawyer with the US Haynes and Boone Company,
said the success of China's small and medium-sized firms depends
on technological creativity.
Thurston suggested that venture capital systems in China should
be implemented through an effective governmental mechanism.
(China Daily 07/14/2000)
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