The securities market will play a more vital role in China in widening direct financing, giving impetus to reform and restructuring in state enterprises and pushing forward technological advancement and industrial upgrading, etc.

Zhou Qingzheng, president of the Securities Regulatory Committee, said this in a recent article.

He emphasized that it needs to spare no time to deepen reform of the system and mode of securities control, enhance the standardization of the securities market, make a great effort to beef up management, improve in earnest the quality of listed securities corporations, enlarge the ranks of investors, actively nurture and develop healthy, orderly and safe market ambience in a bid to create conditions for the sustained, stable and healthy development of the securities market to enable it to play a positive and effective role.

The securities market president said that over the past 9 years since its birth, the securities market in China has evolved apace in the process of standardization and probing and gained eye-catching achievement. According to him, by the end of 1999, 949 firms had been listed at home and 46 abroad, having collected equity totaling over 400 billion yuan; the stock price totaled 2650 billion yuan in the domestic market, amounting to about 32% of GDP; and over 44 million securities accounts have been established. laws and decrees governing the securities market are being consummated, standardization of operations and risk-resisting capability in the market have been improved and a large number of state enterprises have been listed to have given a new lease on life for the socialist market economy, he said.