The European Union (EU) could playa more active role in Beijing's digital Olympics project, said a Beijing municipal official on Wednesday.

Zou Tong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Office of Information, made the remarks at the 3rd China-EU Workshop on Digital Olympics that opened on Wednesday.

"Digital Olympics will be one of the highlights of the Beijing 2008 Games and the ECOSPLAN has laid a solid foundation for it," said Zou.

The EU-China cooperation on the Strategic Planning of the Beijing Digital Olympics Program (ECOSPLAN), launched in January 2004 for an initial period of 18 months, was aimed to define requirements for the integrated Olympic IT infrastructure and services and develop the technological platform as the blueprint for the detailed design and implementation of the 2008 Olympic IT systems and services.

"EU's involvement would definitely promote application of the most advanced technologies in the 2008 Olympics as European enterprises have great technological advantages in mobile communication, intelligent transport management as well as electronic purse," added Zou.

Simon Bensasso, head of the International Cooperation Unit of Information Society and Media of the European Commission, also expressed optimism about long-term Euro-China cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies.

The EU will increase in the leadup to the 2008 Games its fund earmarked for the Digital Olympics project, he said.

The one-day China-EU Workshop on Digital Olympics drew some 300 participants from both sides. It served as a platform for Chinese and European research institutes and companies to get updated information on the Digital Olympics and Digital Beijing programs.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2005)