The Beijing International High-Tech Industries Week, which concluded Tuesday, is a hallmark of China's emerging potential as a world high-tech power as well as a focus of global investment, according to Mayor Liu Qi.

The annual event was initiated in 1998 and witnessed delegations from 15 countries and regions at that time.

This year's event covered an exhibition area of some 10,000 square meters and attracted more than 800,000 people from over 50 countries and regions around the world.

Organizers said that the value of contracts clinched in the past week totaled US$8 billion.

The week-long event featured promotion of the world hottest technologies such as bluetooth, wideband and 3G.

Jorma Ollila, chief executive officer of telecommunications giant Nokia, said, "Nokia's China-based research and development center caters to not only Chinese users but also the global market.

Meanwhile, 400 Nobel Prize-winners, ranking officials, high-tech experts and renowned scholars gave lectures at 25 high-level forums on topics such as sci-tech development in the 21st century, influences of bio-technology on human life, Internet development, China's entry into the World Trade Organization, and venture capital.

The handsomely priced forum tickets did not hinder an enthusiastic Chinese audience of 50,000. It has become common understanding for Chinese people to focus on the increasingly close ties between China and the other parts of the world in an age fueled by high technology.

(People's Daily 05/16/2001)