[BEIJING] China is to create a top-level 'leadership committee' and establish a national development plan to guide the growth of its biotechnology sector.

One of the main tasks of the new committee will be to co-ordinate research and development efforts across all government departments. At present, such efforts are split between research efforts run by the ministry of science and technology, hospitals run by the ministry of health, and universities, which are run by the ministry of education.

Xu Guanghua, the Chinese minister of science and technology, made the announcement at the 10th international symposium of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA), being held this week in Beijing.

In China, leadership committees are powerful bodies that are only formed either in sectors of strategic importance, or at times of urgent need, such as during the SARS outbreak.

Xu said the body will be headed by "a major state council leader", who Zhang Hongxiang, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chinese Biotechnology, predicts will be Chen Zhili, one of China's three state councillors. But Xu did not indicate when the development plan would be released, or the leadership committee formed.

"We will continue to increase our investments in basic research, developing a group of research teams and enhancing national data-sharing in the biotechnology and life science sectors,'' Xu also told the SCBA conference.