The capital city plans to provide convenient, secure and efficient information services by 2008 to everyone at any time, Beijing's Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua said at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Forum on IT Development.

In the Beijing Olympic Action Programme issued on July 13, information and telecommunication construction should focus on infrastructure, information service providers, as well as information technology research and development sectors.

Beginning last month, the municipal government collected suggestions for the city's digital construction from domestic and overseas experts.

"Though the city's information construction is listed as the best in the nation, to meet the professional requirements of the Olympic Games and be in line with international standards, we must improve and upgrade as soon as possible," Liu said.

According to Li Chengshu, professor at Northern Jiaotong University, one of the most efficient ways to improve information technology is to introduce mature overseas technologies and operation methods.

The government should also help domestic technology developers improve industrial applications through fiscal investment and market fund-raising channels.

Sources from the Beijing Information Office said one of the key information infrastructure projects, the capital public information platform, is nearly completed. The broadband service covers eight districts and 10 remote counties with a total cable length of 1,000 kilometres.

The city is short of capital, talent and technology in telecommunications, Liu said. It also needs help in resources management, intellectual card development, sports information management, digital sports facilities and information security, Liu added.

Ping Lee, vice-president of France-based SchlumbergerSema Asia, said that as a global information technology partner for the Olympic Games, SchlumbergerSema will provide information technology consultations and solution services to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"As one of the information service providers to the Olympic Games in 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2000, we have rich experiences and will try our best to provide service for the great event," Lee said.

Lee acknowledged that the Olympic Games projects are very attractive to powerful investors and emphasized that openness, fairness and transparency are crucial for the projects' operation.

(China Daily December 3, 2002)