The adjustment in industrial structure and the transformation of technology are two vital ways for enterprises to compete globally, said Li Rongrong, minister of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), at a national conference on foreign trade and economic cooperation.

Analyzing the influence brought by the WTO to China's enterprises, Li divided the country's industries into three categories.

The first category includes textiles, coal and light industries, which have comparative advantage with foreign ones. They are encouraged to aggregate their competitiveness. The second group includes the metallurgy, machinery and petrochemical sectors. They enjoy a sound material and technological basis but are somewhat backward compared with the same sectors worldwide.

Li said that a sector such as the automobile industry, which trails its foreign counterparts, will be asked to combine and regroup, strengthen technology cooperation and improve service quality.

The minister also asked the SETC branches at various levels to expand their work emphasis from State-owned enterprises to all enterprises with various ownerships and provide more support for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

While working to transform domestic industries, Li said that enterprises must strive to enlarge exports by providing high-quality products.

Enterprises, especially private enterprises, will be encouraged to invest in overseas markets, he said.

The ministers also urged officials to improve their ability to work in a post-WTO market economy and improve their work efficiency in approving market activities.

(China Daily February 28, 2002)