Dalian hopes the information technology sector will drive its future economic development.

"We hope the software industry will be the core impetus for the development of the city in the coming years," Vice-Mayor Dai Yulin said last Thursday at a ceremony marking the signing of the contract for the Dalian Lushun South Road Software Industrial Zone.

As the second phase of the construction of Dalian Software Park, the 133-square-kilometre zone will attract an investment of 15 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) for construction of some special zones involving software outsourcing, IT services, software R&D, telecommunications, training and living quarters.

Dalian has invited six internationally known architecture firms to take part in the planning process, including the US-based Gensler Architecture Planning and Germany-based GMP (Von Gerkan, Marg und Partner Architects).

"We are glad the city will give priority to environmental protection from the very start," said Meinhard von Gerkan, the founder of GMP.

David Deselm, principal planner of Gensler Architecture Planning, said the zone's design should be flexible in order to allow its further future development.

By the end of the year, the final plan will be chosen from those submitted by the six design teams, said Wang Shunian, chief engineer of China International Engineering Consulting Corp.

By 2008, when construction of the zone is completed, its sales revenue will reach 15 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion), with exports of US$600 million, said Sun Yinhuan, board chairman of Dalian Software Park Co Ltd.

In another development, international information industry experts and financiers will meet in the city this week during the China Dalian International Software & Information Service Fair (CISIS).

The CISIS will attract more than 400 IT enterprises, including GE, IBM, Microsoft and Sun.

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