The China Association for Science and Technology will play a full role as a major non-governmental engine pushing forward the development and popularization of science and technology in the country, according to a work report by the association.
The association will ensure that all scientific and technological professionals remain orientated towards economic development and make efforts to upgrade the country's scientific and technological status, the report said.
The work report was delivered in Beijing yesterday by Zhang Yutai, the association's vice-chairman, at the third session of its sixth national committee.
A study on China's science and technology in 2020 will begin this year to provide suggestions for the nation's mid and long-term scientific and technological development plans, according to the report.
Experts and scholars from all fields will be encouraged to take part in the study, together with staff from related departments.
The report said more attention should be paid to rural areas and further efforts should be made to achieve agricultural development through science and technology.
A project to train 1 million grass-roots officials in rural western areas will be launched this year.
Research should be conducted to find out how science and technology associations in private enterprises can be set up.
The association will continue to protect the legal rights of scientific and technological professionals, the report pledged.
Systems for services such as legal consultations, professional training and social security will be established and improved to meet the demands of such professionals.
Good-quality and high-level academic interchanges will be conducted so they can form part of the country's system for scientific and technological innovation, the report said.
Nearly 11,000 domestic academic conferences and more than 840 bilateral and international academic conferences were held in the country last year.
The association will also strengthen scientific and technological interchanges with non-governmental organizations in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Various kinds of activities will be held to disseminate scientific knowledge among farmers, communities, young people, officials, and company employees.
More than 300,000 such activities were held in urban communities last year and 230,000 scientific and technological professionals were sent to rural areas to offer technical training.
The association should develop itself into a home for scientific and technological professionals, said Wang Zhaoguo, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, who was attending the conference.
(China Daily January 22, 2003)
