To meet the requirements following the entry into the World Trade Organization, China will speed up reform to establish a statistical system which conforms to both the national situation and international norms, said sources with the National Statistics Bureau.

This is also one of the major concerns among deputies to the Ninth National People's Congress, which is to hold its annual session early next week.

The sources said that a major part of the bureau's reform efforts will be to gradually unify the existing accounting and statistical systems concerning the national economy, standardize the accounting methods for gross domestic product (GDP) of the whole country and that of localities, and link up the GDP statistics of the whole country with those of localities.

At the same time, efforts will be made to improve and enrich the contents of GDP accounting, with the environment and resources taken into account.

According to sources, China has promised to make transparent and clear all its basic statistical activities and put the activities under public supervision after it joined the data disclose system of the International Monetary Fund not long ago.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2002)