CHINA aims for a 20 percent increase in imports and exports of high-tech products this year, a senior commerce ministry official said.
Chang Xiaocun, head of the science and technology division with the Ministry of Commerce, disclosed the target during the 99th China Export Commodity Fair, the country's largest trade event that opened on Saturday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.
The Chinese government has been trying to move its exports up the value chain to help buoy the world's fastest-growing major economy.
As the country shifts its focus to technology products from labor-intensive ones, China hopes to make its goods more competitive on the global market.
Chang said that foreign trade in high and new technology products should reach US$500 billion this year.
In the long term, imported high-tech facilities and goods are set to help China turn out more value-added products, analysts say.
Trade in high and new technology products topped US$416 billion last year, with imports accounting for US$197.71 billion, up 22.5 percent from a year earlier.
The value of contracts for imported technologies reached US$19.05 billion last year, a rise of 38 percent.
The fair, a biannual event launched in 1957, consists of two phases: manufactured goods, textiles and garments, foodstuffs and medicines in the first phase; and souvenirs, gifts and household commodities in the second.
Sino-foreign joint venture companies pioneered the move to boost China's imports and exports of high-tech products.
China's Ministry of Information Industry said nearly 90 percent of the nation's exported electronic products come from foreign ventures.
In the first two months this year, exports of electronic products by foreign ventures in China reached US$19.56 billion, a jump of 41.2 percent year on year, accounting for 86.9 percent of the industry's total exports, MII statistics revealed.
Foreign ventures in China's electronic information industry reported a sales revenue of 408.53 billion yuan (US$51.1 billion) in the first two months, a year-on-year rise of 32.3 percent.
They accounted for 80.9 percent in the industry and their profits reached 13.02 billion yuan, taking 78.8 percent of the total, according to MII data.
