Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao encouraged innovation in special economic zones (SEZs) when visiting Shenzhen, China's first SEZ in south China's Guangdong Province.

Presiding the SEZ work forum, held during his visit to Shenzhen this Monday and Tuesday, Wen said that developing SEZs is an important part of the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and that SEZs such as Shenzhen should take innovation as the life and soul of their development in the new circumstances.

In the 25 years since the Shenzhen SEZ was established, the city has made a series of outstanding achievements and has become a model for the reform and opening up drive of the country, said Wen.

During that process, the Shenzhen SEZ nurtured the spirit of daring to think, daring to act and daring to be the pioneer, the concept of time equaling to money and efficiency amounting to life and a series of valuable experience for China's reform and opening up cause, he said.

The practices of Shenzhen SEZ have proved that the policy of developing SEZs of the central government is totally right, said Wen.

Now that China has entered into a new phase of building a moderately prosperous society and the acceleration of socialist modernization, the central government will stick to the line of developing SEZs and the basic policy in developing SEZs, said Wen.

Wen emphasized that SEZs should explore new modes and measures to modernize better and prioritize innovation.

The SEZs should put emphasis on the innovation by making quality and profits a priority, improving innovation capability, deepening reform, expanding trade and economic cooperation, promoting the construction of a harmonious society and improving city construction and management to play a better leading role for the whole country, said Wen.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)