Chen made the remark at the Seventh Council and the Plenary Meeting of the association which kicked off on Sunday in Beijing.

Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, wrote an inscription to the meeting "strengthen publicity of quality legislation and promote people's sense of quality."

Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo said in a letter to the meeting that he hoped the association would provide services in quality management by helping relevant departments "strengthen legislation of quality control, establish quality incentive mechanisms and improve the sense of quality of the whole society."

According to statistics released by the association, the quality associations at all levels had organized more than 3,000 quality control training classes, which involved nearly 30,000 firms and more than 900,000 people during the past five years.

In the next five to 10 years, the country's fundamental task is to readjust the national economic structure, and realize continuous and health economic development by improving the quality and efficiency, Chen said in his report.

In the past, the association limited its quality control on products only in the secondary industry sector, Chen said in his report. "The quality control associations at all levels would enlarge the number of its customers in more sectors, because all the industries and sectors need services of quality control."

(China Daily 02/27/2001)