Expat database to meet talent demand, supply

China is to build a database of overseas talent as part of a digital platform to match foreign experts with potential employers, a senior official said on Sunday.

The platform, the first big-data project of its kind in the country, will include all legally employed foreign workers' nationalities, areas of expertise and industry, their employer and city of residence, according to Zhang Jianguo, director of the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs.

He proposed the database at the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals, which was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Saturday and Sunday.