China will introduce a series of significant measures step by step to push forward the on-going reform of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), a senior official said at the 2002 annual meeting of the China Development Forum, which opened Sunday morning.

Jiang Qiangui, vice-minister in charge of the State Economic and Trade Commission, said the measures may touch upon the issues of improving the state property management system, exploring proper incentives fit for managers of large SOEs, and strengthening the reform of the investment administration mechanism and monopolized industries.

The SOE reform is a core part, and also a hard step, of China's economic restructuring, and the reform of large SOEs is even more difficult.

Great changes have taken place over the past 20 years both in the setup of large SOEs and their relations with the government. But the so-called large SOEs are not as powerful as large international enterprises and multinational companies, Jiang said.

He said efforts will be made to promote the development of large SOEs to meet the new trend that emerges after China enters the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the requirements of the market economy.

This requires SOEs to operate according to internationally accepted standards and sharpen their competitive edge, while calling for the government to reduce administrative approval and the burden of enterprises so as to create a favorable environment for fair competition.

(People's Daily March 25, 2002)