Mayor Liu Qi said Wednesday that foreign high-tech enterprises coming to the Chinese capital will enjoy preferential tax schemes and other benefits.

The city government of Beijing will return 80 percent of the taxes levied on foreign high-tech enterprises in the previous year for these enterprises to buy houses and automobiles, Liu said when meeting with Edward Barnholt, president and CEO of U.S.-based Agilent science and technology company.

Last year, the city government returned 800 million of the one billion yuan in taxes collected from the software industry, Liu disclosed.

High-tech: Major Development Strategy

Liu pointed out that high-tech development is one of the major development strategies of Beijing. The city is home to Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, the country's largest, and planning to build six software colleges.

Barnholt said that the impending 2008 Summer Olympic Games would bring development opportunities to Beijing, adding he was confident of Beijing's future.

Barnholt said that his company established a lab in Beijing last year and would invest more in the city in the future.

(People's Daily March 28, 2002)