The news conference was sponsored by the Press Center of the National People's Congress (NPC) which has been in session in Beijing since March 5.

By 2005, the country's total annual imports and exports should reach US$680 billion, while imports and exports should strike a general balance, the minister said. The respective shares of electrical-electronic products/machinery and hi-tech products in total exports should rise to 50 percent and 20 percent, he noted.

In the coming five years, average annual FDI inflow to China should be maintained at around US$40 billion and efforts should be made to achieve further growth, the official said.

According to the new five-year plan, China will make greater achievements in overseas project-contracting, labor service cooperation, foreign aid and other foreign trade and economic activities, Shi said.

The minister announced that China will push ahead with two fundamental transformations in the foreign trade and economic sector, so as to make the country more competitive in the international market.

In the next five years, China will implement the strategies of "Winning by Quality, Market Diversification and Reinvigorating Trade by Science and Technology" in a better way, the official said.

At the same time, the country will transform the growth mode of foreign trade and economic cooperation, make unremitting efforts to restructure the foreign trade and economic sector, further optimize the import and export product mix, mode of trade and regional and market structures, increase the added value of processing trade, and basically realize a fundamental transformation in China's foreign economic and trade development, namely from expansion and quantitative growth to growth based on quality and economic efficiency, Shi said.

He pointed out that in the coming five years, China will speed up the establishment of a new administration system for the country's foreign trade and economic cooperation with the accession to the WTO as the turning point.

During the transitional period after joining the WTO, China will set up a new foreign economic and trade system compatible with international norms and conditions in China, he said.

Referring to the government strategy of "Go Global", Shi said, local companies will be encouraged to invest abroad in fields where China has comparative advantages, so that the country can participate in international competition and cooperation in greater depth and magnitude.

The "Go Global" strategy will enable China to make more effective use of both domestic and international markets and resources to better serve its ongoing modernization drive, the official said.

Furthermore, China will basically set up a foreign economic and trade promotion and safeguard system, he said, noting that the export refund mechanism will be reformed to make it more stable and institutionalized.

Meanwhile, it is imperative to improve the system of financial support for foreign trade and economic cooperation, focusing on export credit and insurance thereof, and to integrate export credit insurance with export financing, he said.

A well-established legal system governing China's economic interaction with the rest of the world should be basically put in place, reflecting compliance with the WTO rules and China's own circumstances, he added.

In the coming five years, China will push forward the development of e-commerce, the minister said. By substantiating and improving Project of Golden Customs and establishing a sound on-line foreign trade and economic administrative system, China will primarily realize network-based administration, operation and information-sharing in the foreign trade and economic sector, so that important progress can be made in e-commerce, e-information and e-administration, according to the official.

Shi went on to note that China will actively participate in regional economic cooperation while discussing and studying the possibility of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in a certain region.

(Xinhua 03/13/2001)