Su Zengtian, director of the provincial economic planning commission with Fujian, said the electronics and information technology (IT) sectors had become the fastest-growing part of local economy.

The sectors involve electronic audio and video products, computers and related equipment, software, telecommunications and electronic parts.

Investors from overseas, such as computer giant Dell, have become giants in the sectors in the eastern coastal province.

The province has mapped out a blueprint to achieve an annual average growth rate of 20 percent in its IT manufacturing and software sectors during the next five years from 2003 to 2007 with a combined output value of these sectors totaling 280 billion yuan (US$34 billion) by 2007.

Seventy-nine electronics and IT investment projects are under way in the province, involving more than 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in total investment.

Local officials said that these projects would generate more than 180 billion yuan (some US$22 billion) in added output each year after they were put into operation.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2003)