The Chinese government still faces daunting challenges in reforming its administrative system, despite achievements over the last two decades, a senior government official said Wednesday.

"China launched its administrative system reform in the 1980s and has achieved a breakthrough in this regard with the advancement and deepening of the economic system reform," said Zhu Zhixin, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Zhu told an international seminar on government administrative system reform jointly organized by the NDRC and the World Bank that the system still had major problems that prevented it from meeting the needs of the changing society.

Problems included redundant organizations and overlapping functions, inefficiency, slowness in reforming the income distribution and social security systems, inadequate supply of public goods and services and widening gaps in regional development.

Zhu called for the speeding up of the reform, saying it was a key link in solving social and economic problems.

He said the government must further transform its functions and separate itself from enterprise. It must focus on its responsibilities and abstain from what was not its business, and allow market forces a bigger role in distributing resources.

A proper definition of the government's responsibilities was necessary, he said. A public finance system must be established to ensure the fair and efficient delivery of public goods and services, and the government must be given proper means to enforce its macro-economic goals.

The government must further improve its decision-making process by making it more democratic and transparent, Zhu said. This could be achieved through consultations with experts, public hearings and allowing market forces and social organizations a bigger role in matters that did not necessarily involve the government.

The government should further improve its services by making itself more accessible and more transparent. Innovations such as the so-called "one-stop" services, where people could approach different government bodies at one place, should be promoted.

To promote the rule of the law, Zhu said it was necessary to make more laws that would standardize government conduct.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2006)