A Frenchman and a Japanese have been named model workers - the first time expatriates in Beijing have been given the honor.

They are Luc Picard, 73, a doctor who works at the Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, and Aki Kishi, 56, a senior consultant at the Beijing Tede Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.

Picard has been in China 15 times since the 1970s, is an expert on interventional neuroradiology and has trained more than 10 Chinese doctors.

Kishi visited Beijing 16 times before he settled in the city in 2005. Since then, he helped his company develop a drug delivery system that has helped millions of Chinese patients alleviate pain.

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They will be among 1,241 Beijing workers who will receive their model worker award on Tuesday - and at least 10,000 yuan - for showing dedication and selflessness at their workplace. The two were selected from a short list of five expatriate candidates. Winners of the award - given out every five years - are often recommended by employers eager for public exposure, and attract frenzied media attention.

"To select expatriates as model workers shows the openness of the capital," said Huo Lianming, vice-president of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions. "As an international city, we need to attract talent from all over the world and model workers are excellent representatives of them." Among the recipients will also be 124 migrant workers, who work in Beijing but have no hukou here, accounting for 10 percent of the total model workers in Beijing this year.

"The percentage increased by 8 points over 2005," said Wang Yonghao, director of the marketing department of the federation. Wang said the expatriates and migrant workers contributed much to the city and deserve their awards.

Of them, 22.7 percent are from the private sector, compared with 6.7 percent in 2005.