Australia and China have good prospects for working together on social insurance and should cooperate more on sharing experience and setting up and financing pension systems, an Australian said in Beijing Thursday.

Australian Minister for Family and Community Services Amanda Vanstone made the remark at a press conference held by the Australian embassy in Beijing.

She came to China for a bilateral conference on superannuation and retirement incomes, jointly hosted in Shanghai by the Chinese Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Australian Ministry for Family and Community Services.

The conference theme was social insurance system reform in China and Australia, management and supervision of a social insurance fund, and preventing fraud as well as related problems in the Chinese social insurance system, she said.

With its huge population and rapid economic growth, China, like many Western countries, is facing challenges from an aging problem, she noted, voicing Australia's willingness to share its experience with China in superannuation reform, pension system build-up, fund management and fraud prevention.

Social insurance, which affected social stability and people's livelihood, required joint efforts from the government and private financial sectors, she said. Australia would promote cooperation between China and the internationally-respected social insurance and financial institutions.

Last year, China's social insurance fund had a surplus of more than 300 billion yuan (about 36 billion US dollars), which drew more concern from the public over fund supervision and management. 　　

Australia's largest financial service group, the AMP group, has regularly exchanged its experience with Shanghai on social insurance and pension management, according to the Australian side.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2003)