Premier Wen Jiabao met Wednesday with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in Zhongnanhai, the government's headquarters in Beijing.

Wen said that China is pursuing the route of new industrialization and pushing the process forward with the application of information technology. To progress in this area and in development of the information industry, China will continue opening to the outside world and strengthening cooperation with other countries.

Wen also expressed appreciation for the support that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given to social welfare and public health in China over the years.

Gates briefly explained Microsoft's operations in China and the company's implementation of the memorandum it signed in June 2002 with the State Development and Planning Commission, the predecessor of the State Development and Reform Commission. The MOU referred to the launch of the largest Sino-foreign software cooperation project in the country.

Gates said expanding operations in China is a main focus for Microsoft, and it plans to strengthen cooperation to the benefit of both the company and the country.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn June 30, 2004)