The number of China's state-owned enterprises (SOE) will continue to decrease, but their quality and performance will be further improved in the years to come, said Li Rongrong, minister in charge of the State Economic and Trade Commission, here Sunday.
Li was speaking at a press conference held by the press center of the ongoing 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
"We don't have a specific quota for the proportion of the state sector in the national economy, but it is certain that the number of SOEs will further drop," Li said when responding to a question on recent green light for foreign capital to participate in the transformation of China's SOEs.
"The key for SOE development lies in their performance and quality rather than the mere number," he said, adding that he is optimistic about the prospect of SOEs' performance.
The Chinese government recently promulgated several new regulations which allow state companies to sell state-owned shares to foreign investors and standardize takeovers related to listed companies.
Such measures will help readjust the structure of the state sector and expand the fundamental role of market demand in resource allocation, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2002)
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