Speaking at the Chief Executive Officers' (CEO) Summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held in the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, Jiang said that with the country's entry into WTO, China will enter a new stage of open-up.

He said that China will continue deepening reforms, strengthening the country's system of a socialist market economy, readjusting the economic structure, and will continue stepping up industrial reorganization and reform as well as structural optimization and upgrading.

"We will adhere to the guideline of development, focus on structural readjustment, take reform and open-up and scientific and technological advances as the driving force, and make it our fundamental aim to improve people's living standards," Jiang said.

He said that China will effectively develop the sector of the tertiary industry and accelerate the endeavor for an information-based national economy and society.

"We will continue to strengthen such basic infrastructure as water conservancy, transport and energy, adhere to the strategy of revitalizing the nation through science and education, and galvanize scientific and technological progress and innovation.

"We are implementing the grand strategy of developing China's west to step up the development of the central and western regions and promote a coordinated growth of the economies of different regions.

"China will predictably score even greater achievements in its reform, open-up and modernization," Jiang told the CEO Summit, which precedes the eighth informal leadership meeting of APEC.

According to Jiang, China has introduced over recent years a series of growth measures such as expanding domestic demand and implementing pro-active fiscal and monetary policies.

As a result, China's national economy has maintained a sustained, rapid and sound growth and continued to move forward in a virtuous circle, he told the CEO Summit, which was attended by more than 400 Chief Executive Officers from all over the world.

China's economic restructuring is well underway, foreign trade is gaining momentum, and China's domestic market is thriving, according to Jiang.

He said that there is an across-the-board recovery in consumer demand, financial operations are running smoothly and that China has a favorable balance of international payments. About 400 of the world's top 500 transnational corporations have opened branches in China.

He noted that the ninth Five-Year Plan for China's Economic and Social Development (1996-2000) has been implemented with success, and that China is now formulating the tenth Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2001-2005).

He said APEC has enabled China to establish and develop ties with other members. He also noted that China's foreign trade market and sources of foreign investment are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, and that China will continue to play a positive and constructive role in APEC.

Jiang arrived here Tuesday to attend the eighth informal leadership meeting of APEC and to pay a state visit to Brunei from November 17-18.

(People's Daily 11/15/2000)