Shenzhen Stock Exchange will roll out a growth enterprise market as soon as possible, said Zhang Yujun, the exchange's general manager, on Wednesday, but didn't give a timetable for its establishment.

 

Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission also said on the same day in Beijing that whether the growth enterprise market can be successfully launched this year will depend on the preparation.

 

China started to develop the growth enterprise market in 1999 in Shenzhen Stock Exchange, but its launch was shelved on concerns after the worldwide collapse of Internet and technological stocks starting from March 2000.

 

"Shenzhen Stock Exchange has prepared for the growth enterprise market for eight to nine years and the technological preparation is almost ready," said Zhang.

 

Early this year, Shenzhen Stock Exchange set up a team to promote the construction of a growth enterprise market.

 

Zhang said that in the process of establishing this market, Shenzhen Stock Exchange will give priority to supporting China's home-grown innovation strategy, the listing of high-tech companies, the new countryside construction, the development of modern agriculture as well as the solutions for regional imbalance.

 

(China Daily March 9, 2007)