Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili on Wednesday called for underscoring the development of bioeconomy at the opening ceremony of the First International High-Level Forum on Bioeconomy held in Beijing.

The growth of life sciences and biotechnology and active promotion of bioeconomy, which support the country's sustainable development, have brought to the Chinese people enormous interests and well-beings, and this also constitutes one of China's strategic strategies to guide future bioeconmic development with the use of science and technology, said Chen.

China is taking a range of substantial measures to press ahead with the biologic researches and their industrialization, according to Chen, including prioritizing the biologic technology in China's mid-and-long-term science and technology development scheme, drawing up a national program for biologic technology and its industrialization development, enacting a biologic safety law and planning for establishing a biologic trade association.

"China also will strive to enlarge and intensify the international exchanges and cooperation in bioeconomy on the basis of equality and mutual benefit so as to create a still brighter future for the entire humankind," she said.

Relevant international organizations, experts and Chinese officials attended the forum, which is sponsored jointly by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)