China aims to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information technology with foreign countries and plans to educate more personnel specialized in the field.

Deputy general director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Chen Yangjin, told the two-day 2005 China Informatization Forum in Tianjin that the central government has invested over 125 million yuan, or US$15.4 million, in introducing advanced information technology and experts in the field for the past five years in training software personnel.

He said China has employed some 2700 foreign professors with expertise in software engineering, mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, working for enterprises, academies or research institutes.

Meanwhile, more than 2000 technicians have been sent by the Chinese government in the last five years to receive training software personnel overseas in software engineering.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2005)