Preparation for the Sino-Russian Science and Technology Center, a project between the Chinese and Russian governments for broad-based research, has been launched in Liaoning Province, northeast China.

The center, undertaken by Shenyang Engineering College, Russia's Tomsk Polytechnic College and the Siberian branch of the Russia Academy of Sciences, will concentrate on research into aeronautics and astronautics, bio-engineering, energy, new materials, laser technology and environmental sciences.

Yao Jun, an official with Shenyang Engineering College, said the college will earmark 26-52 hectares of land for the construction of the center, which is anticipated to be completed in 2005.

Work on establishing five institutes will begin later this year and 10 institutes will be formed by December of 2005, with 500 million yuan (US$60 million) in funding from the Shenyang college.

Yao said the center, to be jointly owned by the two sides, will cooperate with enterprises and institutions in the province and other parts of China in commercialize Russian technology and their common research achievements.

The center will also be open to the science and education communities of China, Russia and other countries, he said.

The Chinese also plans to invest 1 billion yuan (US$121 million) in establishing a high-tech industrial park catering to Russian technology in Shenyang, which is not from Russia's Far East region and is a major industrial base of China.

The center plans to set up a Russian-Chinese science park in Russia in a bid to introduce Chinese high-technology, practical technology and products to Russia, said Yao.

With the progress in China-Russia relations, several demonstration bases for technological cooperation between the two countries have been established in China.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2003)