Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan has called on China's traditional industrial bases to give full play to their superiority, deepen reforms, and accelerate technological progress in developing key equipment.

China has built a complete equipment industry system and marked progress has been made in equipment development and production in power, shipping, petrol-chemical and track transport industries in recent years, Zeng said at a symposium held Friday and Saturday in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

However, much key equipment has to be imported from abroad as Chinese enterprises lack competitiveness on account of an irrational structure and weak product development ability, added, Zeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Outlining major tasks in the near future, Zeng said the equipment industry should build a new system beneficial to revitalization of the equipment industry and speed up enterprise reform, regrouping and technical transformation.

Enterprises will be encouraged to increase investment in new product development and train technicians, he said, and concentration should be placed on production of key equipment.

Participants in the symposium included leading officials of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, which have served as China's leading heavy industrial bases, specialists and trade association representatives.

Source: Xinhua