Sichuan aims to plug in to IT opportunities

BEIJING - The government of Sichuan province said on Tuesday it plans to turn the area into a hub for the information technology industry and boost the turnover of the IT sector to 1 trillion yuan ($152 billion) by 2015.

Huang Xiaoxiang, who is vice-governor of the province in Southwest China, said at a news conference that high-technology industries will become the major economic engines for Sichuan during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

"Sichuan used to rely heavily on the steel, cement and chemical industries but we want to make a change," Huang said.