China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have made
a great contribution to the national economy and will continue
to be main players in the country's economic development in
the coming century, according to an official from the organizing
committee of the Symposium on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Development.
Jointly sponsored
by the State Development Planning Commission and Wuxi municipal
government, the symposium will be held from January 6 to 8
next year in the city of Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu Province.
A State-level investment
and development forum, it aims to further tap the potential
of small and medium-sized enterprises and promote their faster
and healthier development in the new century, the official
said.
China's SMEs began
their rapid development in the late 1980s and have made big
strides in the past decade as the national economy moves forward
at an unprecedented rate.
Although SMEs have
made great progress, whether they can maintain the momentum
in the future is crucial to the sustainable development of
the country's economy, said an official from the State Development
Planning Commission.
The official added
that the central government has decided to issue some new
and more favourable policies to ensure healthy growth in the
10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05). SMEs will be given more
rights in terms of raw material purchase and will be encouraged
to get listed on the stock market.
On the whole, the
growth of SMEs is satisfactory and encouraging, the official
said, but when examined from a global perspective, their operational
structure has some obvious defects and needs to be readjusted.
Another obstacle
which could hinder SMEs' development is management quality,
the official said. Efforts should also be made to recruit
qualified personnel for positions in which they can fully
use their expertise.
So far, SMEs have
concentrated on traditional industries and manufacturing sectors
and their products are not competitive on the world market.
Future plans should
emphasize the need to develop high-tech industries, such as
information technology, said the official.
(China Daily 12/25/2000)
|
