China has been making constant efforts to protect IPR to meet the country's development needs, said officials at the China High-Level Forum on Intellectual Property Rights Protection 2007 yesterday.

"The Ministry of Commerce has been persistent in supporting enterprises to protect IPR and create a market environment conducive to technology innovation," said Jiang Zengwei, vice-minister of commerce.

The ministry has been working on several aspects of IPR protection, Jiang said. It has built 18 national bases to boost hi-tech exports.

The export of hi-tech products has increased by 8 percent and the proportion of such products to total exports has gone up 17.6 percent since the strategy of pushing up technology-intensive exports was adopted, said Jiang.

The ministry has supported local governments and built 50 service centers to deal with IPR complaints.

The government has also started a website, ipr.gov.cn, to provide online consultation to enterprises.

The ministry has been actively dealing with IPR disputes in foreign trade, establishing bilateral mechanisms with the United States and the European Union.

"We'll try to increase our mutual understanding through dialogue and communication in solving IPR disputes," said Jiang.

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