6. We will comprehensively deepen structural reforms and improve our open economy.
We will work hard to make further breakthroughs in key areas of reform.
1) We will advance the reform of state-owned enterprises. The conversion of state-owned enterprises to stockholding companies and transfer of their property will be standardized. The management of receipts from and expenditures on the operation of state capital will be tightened and trials of the budget system for the management of state capital will be expanded. Reform of monopoly industries will be accelerated. The problems arising from the separation of the operation of power plants and power grids will be resolved as soon as possible, the secondary businesses of power grid operators will be spun off from their main business, a master plan for reform of the railway system will be formulated, implementation of the plan to reform the postal system will continue and studies will be conducted to work out a model for full-service telecommunications enterprises. We will press ahead with the reform of collectively owned enterprises and develop various forms of collective and cooperative economic operations.
2) Reform of the fiscal and tax systems will be accelerated. We will improve the public finance system to ensure that the financial resources of the central and local governments are in line with their respective responsibilities, focusing on ensuring uniform access to basic public services across the country and accelerating the formation of development priority zones. We will standardize the system of transfer payments and enlarge the size and proportion of general transfer payments. The new Law on Corporate Tax will be fully implemented and the newly unified single tax scheme for both domestic and foreign enterprises will be faithfully instituted. Natural resource taxes will be reformed, and the method of calculating taxes based on resource prices and measures for protecting resources will be implemented. The trial VAT reform will be expanded and a plan for instituting the reform nationwide will be formulated.
3) Innovations will be made in the banking system. Reform of the Agricultural Bank of China, rural financial cooperatives and the China Development Bank will be deepened and requirements for establishing financial institutions in rural areas will be relaxed nationwide. Greater efforts will be made to develop the market system for securities, insurance and futures. The mechanism for determining the exchange rate for the Renminbi will be improved.
4) We will actively yet prudently carry out reform of prices for resource products, compensation fees for the exploitation and use of natural resources and environmental protection charges. We will gradually reform the mechanism for determining the prices of petroleum and natural gas and make the ratio of prices for natural gas to alternative energy sources more reasonable. Oversight and review of the cost of electricity transmission and distribution will be strengthened and the policy on the price of electricity generated from renewable energy sources will be improved. The central heating supply scheme in urban areas will be gradually reformed.
5) We will deepen reform of the investment system. The systems for approving and recording investment projects will be standardized and implemented. Rules for managing the contractor system for construction projects will be introduced. A system for assessing finished investment projects, a public notice system for major projects and an accountability system for decisions made on investment projects will be established.
