Speaking at the China Development Forum that opened here Sunday, Lu said the policies are clear in their orientation to develop a uniform and open market with a sound order of competition, and one of the main tasks of the new ministry is to rectify and regulate the order of market competition.

Lu said the ministry will strengthen coordination and cooperation in policy and administration with other ministries in a joint effort to construct a modernized system of circulation, and they expect to make substantial progress in this respect in the next one to two years.

The ministry has set up an office of rectifying and regulating market economic order, Lu said, noting it is drafting some important measures to be taken in the next month. He said this move has attracted great attention from the top level of the Chinese government.

Lu said measures will be taken to strike the protectionism and counterfeiting that run rampant in some areas, which will include enhancing relevant legislation and law enforcement, creating a nation-wide system of credibility for companies and developing a dedicated, well-equipped enforcement force to regulate market order.

He warned that some local enterprises will face harsh competition and difficulties in a few years if they fail to abandon the narrow mind-set of regional protectionism.

China will promulgate an anti-monopoly law and anti-regional protection law soon, Lu said, and a national meeting on rectifying and regulating market order will be held in April.

The Chinese legislature approved the reorganization of the government earlier in March. Two former ministries responsible for internal and external trade respectively were scrapped and the Ministry of Commerce was founded in their place.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2003)