Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is calling for deepened reform of
the financial sector so as to enhance a sustained, healthy and safe
development of the industry, according to an article to be
published by the Party Journal Qiushi, or Seeking
Truth on Thursday.
Wen, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee, said
in the article that China has made marked achievements in the
financial sector since the 16th National Congress of the CPC held
in 2002, and made big strides forward in the financial reforms.
China has opened its financial sector steadily to the outside
and intensified supervision and management of the financial sector
while enhancing legal system building, according to the
article.
Wen called on efforts to push the financial reform and financial
industrial development to a new stage to cope with the new
situation China faces in developing its financial sector.
Wen said, with the economic globalization going deeper and
deeper, international financial markets are more closely linked and
liquidity is expanding in scale. Financial sector is playing a
marked role and imposing a notable influence on the economy of a
country and the world at large, Wen said.
Domestically, as China is progressing rapidly in
industrialization, urbanization, marketization and
internationalizaton, the country requires more from the financial
sector to carry out adjustment of economic structure and pushing
forward economic and social development.
The article listed six major tasks for developing the country's
financial sector in the future. The six tasks are:
-- to further enhance sustained and healthy development of the
financial sector, so as to meet the diversified financial needs in
economic and social development;
-- to optimize the financial structure and improve the
distribution of multi-layer financial market system and urban,
rural and regional financial service distribution;
-- to further deepen the reform of financial enterprises and
speed up shifting of operation mechanism;
-- to further improve financial services and control mechanism
so as to promote steady and fast development of the national
economic and realize development based on scientific concept;
-- to further push forward opening-up of the financial sector to
boost development of China's financial industry and improve the
industry's competitiveness;
-- to establish a sound legal system in the financial sector and
intensify management to boost safe and stable development of the
industry.
The article also stressed the importance to further the reform
of state-owned banks and financial reform in rural areas.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)