It was attended by some 100 senior representatives of the government ministries and commissions, the People's Bank of China, major commercial banks, corporations and information technician specialists, as well as the World Bank and international experts. At the seminar, Ms. Zhang Qi, Director-General at the Ministry of Information Industry briefed the participants on the progress of China's Year 2000 action plans, remaining problems and recommendations for next steps to be taken. Local and international participants made presentations on the status and progress made in addressing the Year 2000 Problem in China and other countries and discussed the potential effects and risks of the problem and approaches to address it. The Year 2000 toolkit was also disseminated. With China's rapid modernization, information technology has been widely used in the country's economy and public life and is playing an increasingly important role.
China has significant trade, financial, and communication links with the rest of the world.
The potential impact of the Year 2000 Problem on China and its possible consequences can by no means be ignored. According to a survey made by the Ministry of Information Industry, the Year 2000 Problem is present in almost every sector of the economy, and is particularly prominent in the sectors that heavily rely on computers in their operations, such as financial services, tax administration, transaction of securities and commodities, telecommunication, civil aviation, power generation, railway, international trade, industrial production control system, urban transport, and public utilities. The Chinese government takes the Year 2000 Problem seriously and a number of actions have been taken. As required by a State Council notice on the Year 2000 Problem issued on July 1998, all localities and departments must do what they can to complete correction of the systems by the end of 1998, or no later than the end of March, 1999. They must finish the post-correction adjustment and testing by the end of September, 1999.