The total revenue of 53 state high-technology zones exceeded two trillion yuan (241 billion US dollars) last year (2003), a Science and Technology Ministry spokesman said Wednesday (Feb. 11).

In spite of negative effects resulting from the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, said Shi Dinghuan, also secretary general of the ministry, the revenue reached 2.0194 trillion Yuan, with a growth rate of 32 percent year on year.

The 53 high-tech zones also gained added industrial value worth 427.2 billion yuan. The total added value created by those zones, including that from both industrial and service sectors, accounted for four percent of the country's gross domestic product, or 11 trillion yuan.

Statistics from the ministry showed that Beijing and Shanghai high-tech zones each earned 150 billion yuan in revenue in 2003. The revenue of another 15 zones in big cities exceeded 40 billion yuan each.

"Those are pioneering zones for profitable industrialization of high technologies," Shi said, adding that they have set good examples for further economic development based on technological advancement.

Enterprise incubators in those zones have already cultivated market-oriented start-ups specializing in electronics, telecommunication, computer software, biochemistry, advanced manufacturing, new energy and new materials, Shi said.

Since the initiation of state high-technology zones in 1991, their average annual growth rate has surpassed 40 percent, Shi said.

In the near future, Shi said, the ministry plans to put more resources into seven zones in northeast China, in a bid to boost high-tech industries in the old heavy industrial belt, which is now stringent financially.

Editor: Catherine