Special efforts will focus on ensuring food security -- based on increasing quantities and improving quality of rice, wheat and maize production in the northeastern, northern and central areas of China, said Xu.

He called on regional scientific departments to help spur on the commercialization of important technological findings and to develop the farm produce processing industry, so as to further fatten farmers' wallets.

Another significant work effort this year will be to advance technologies for testing, preventing and treating hepatitis, AIDS and other diseases, Xu said.

In addition, scientists are determined to make major progress toward developing anti-SARS and bird flu treatments, to better safeguard people's health, he said.

Continuous effort will also be made to sustain water resources, oil, gas, mineral and energy resources, and to protect the environment and ecological systems, said Xu.

Touching on the issue of high technology, Xu said high-tech firms should focus on such projects as integrated circuit design, computer software, electric motor vehicles, information security, electronic business, digital machine tools and new material resources.

Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Deng Nan said the outline of the State long-term scientific plan (2005-20) is expected to be compiled late this year and the ministry will start to draft the national scientific plan for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period.

Xu's ministry will also kick off a scientific project in March to help revitalize the nation's old industrial bases in Northeast China.

The topic of revitalizing industrial bases in Northeast China has been frequently talked about in the past three years.

In an interview with China Daily, Lu Lianda, director of the Department of Science and Technology in Northeast Jilin Province, said "revitalizing Northeast China doesn't simply mean pouring more money into the area."

"Feasible ideas and systems are more important. If you invest lots of money to revamp outdated manual work, that's stupid. More impetus should be given to develop pillar industries, such as the automobile industry and industrialization of traditional Chinese medicine, since Jilin has a good foundation in its auto industry and the province boasts rich herbs," said Lu, who is attending the three-day conference in Beijing.

At the first day of the event last Friday, Xu reviewed major scientific achievements over the past year.

Biological chips for testing for cancer, diagnosing hepatitis and genetic diseases have been developed and put into practice.

Last year witnessed significant progress for scientific cooperation between China and other countries, Xu said. A typical example is the implementation of an international plan for a human liver protein group which was led by Chinese scientist He Fuchu and joined by 80 laboratories from 16 countries and regions. It is the first time that Chinese scientists have led a large international scientific project, according to Xu.

(China Daily February 23, 2004)