The Chinese government has defined six missions to revitalize the old industrial base in northeast China and is taking a series of measure to make sure that all the tasks be fulfilled, said Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan at the end of September at a forum in Dalian on refreshing northeast China and cooperation in northeast Asian regions.

Top on the task list is the reform and adjustment of key sectors and acceleration of the restructuring and upgrading of state-owned enterprises. The focus is to revive the equipment manufacturing sector and build industrial bases for machinery, electronics, shipbuilding, auto making, petrol-chemicals and metallurgy.

This is followed by agriculture. The area should yield more grain and serve both as as a source of commercial grain supply and a hub of grain distribution. Processing farm produces with high add value is encouraged.

The third focus is on the transformation of resource-rich cities. More efforts will be made on the environmental recovery and pollution prevention and treatment in mining areas.

The importance of the tertiary industry, of course, is recognized. Reform and development of modern service industry, including finance, will gain momentum. Small and medium sized enterprises and the non-public sector will have better chances to get stronger. The employment attracts much attention and an effective social security system should be available.

Domestic and foreign investment is quite welcome in the area. To have a sound fair and transparent playfield in place, the government will keep on improving the local investment environment and beef up transforming the way of government functioning.

The list is completed with the stress of the infrastructure such as transportation, energy and water conservancy. Dalian is urged to exploit its potential to become an important international shipping center in the northeast Asia.

The Chinese government, Zeng said, is trying to speed up the innovation of mechanism and system, beef up the restructuring process and change the mode of economic growth. It is also opening wider to both home and overseas investors and strengthening its labor market and social security system. It is concentrating on the SOE reform and industrial development. All of this, he noted, is to refurbish the old industrial base.

Pilot projects on zero agricultural tax, value-added tax, social security system, etc., are under way in northeast China. Some sectors and businesses are enjoying favorable policies for tax, bank loans, projects approval, and investment.

The forum is an implementation of the consensus reached between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of ASEAN countries, Japan and South Korea last October. Besides Chinese officials and experts, representatives from ASEAN, northeast Asian countries, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and UNDP were all present at the forum.

By People's Daily Online