Old Industrial Base Pledges to Make Way Out This YearNortheast China's Liaoning Province, one of the country's traditional industrial bases, is expected to succeed in getting most large and medium-sized State-owned enterprises (SOEs) out of financial difficulty by the end of this year.Zhang Guoguang, governor of the province, said that Liaoning has made great progress in reaching the goal. Large and medium-sized SOEs and holding companies of SOEs in the province registered nearly 4.3 billion yuan (US$518 million) in profits during the first half of this year, 9.5 times the figure for the same period last year. The SOE reform and the efforts to extricate themselves from the predicament started in 1998 have been the focus of the economic work in Liaoning Province, home to one-tenth of China's large and medium-sized SOEs. The SOEs and holding companies of SOEs in the province have reported an accumulated profit of 1.3 billion yuan (US$156 million) in 1999, ending 57 consecutive months of loss-making. The favorable growth momentum continued this year as the coal and non-ferrous metal industries and military enterprises are showing signs of turning deficits into profits. Over 60 percent of the large and medium-sized SOEs in the province have turned themselves into viable firms with modern enterprise mechanisms and 7.4 percent of them have been listed abroad. Technological renovation also gave old enterprises a much better chance of restoring their former glory. Anshan and Benxi iron and steel companies, two of China's steel giants, have had their major equipment meet international standards during the 1990s and are ready to compete with foreign competitors. Zhang said that Liaoning has set up economic and trade ties with more than 150 countries and regions around the world. More than 100 of the world's top 500 businesses have opened branches in the province. More than half of the SOEs in the province have become joint ventures. The import and export trade of the province is expected to make a historical breakthrough, he said. The provincial government is working on an independent social insurance system to create a better climate for its SOEs which are undertaking reform and trying to make up deficits and increase surplus. |
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