Sheng Huaren, the head of China's State Economic and Trade Commission on November 20 urged local governments and departments to work harder to ensure the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) happens within the targeted three-year period. Sheng Huaren, minister in charge of the commission, said at a working conference which began on November 20 that the country has promised to pull most of the large and medium-sized state firms out of financial difficulty and to establish a modern enterprise system in most of them before the end of next year.

To meet that goal, Sheng asked the local governments to further cut surplus production capacity in the industrial sector, especially in the fields of coal, iron and steel, and sugar refinery. Meanwhile, manufacturing of products with good market potential will be encouraged.

To further tap the domestic market, especially in the rural areas, will be an important task to spur the economy next year, the minister stressed.

He also prodded firms to take advantage of state policies to expand exports and tap market potential.

According to Sheng, the country next year will restructure a batch of traditional industries with advanced technology and continue to support the technical upgrading with financial policies such as interest discounts, which will provide more opportunities for firms.

According to the plan, all key state firms will establish their own technological development centers.

China will let more firms declare bankruptcy next year, said Sheng, adding that the debt-to-equity swaps will help save a batch of firms formerly in the red.

To improve management of these key firms, China will strengthen supervision of costs, spending and product quality. Top managers of these firms will be trained in groups and their daily operations be supervised more closely.

Sheng noted that this year's economic development, especially the improvement of economic efficiency of the state sector, has laid a strong foundation for the next year's reform.

Statistics show that in the first three quarters of this year, the SOEs made 48.9 billion yuan in profits, 2.5 times the figure of the same period last year. (Xinhua)