Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is calling for deepened reform of the financial sector so as to enhance a sustained, healthy and safe development of the industry, according to an article to be published by the Party Journal Qiushi, or Seeking Truth on Thursday.

Wen, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee, said in the article that China has made marked achievements in the financial sector since the 16th National Congress of the CPC held in 2002, and made big strides forward in the financial reforms.

China has opened its financial sector steadily to the outside and intensified supervision and management of the financial sector while enhancing legal system building, according to the article.

Wen called on efforts to push the financial reform and financial industrial development to a new stage to cope with the new situation China faces in developing its financial sector.

Wen said, with the economic globalization going deeper and deeper, international financial markets are more closely linked and liquidity is expanding in scale. Financial sector is playing a marked role and imposing a notable influence on the economy of a country and the world at large, Wen said.

Domestically, as China is progressing rapidly in industrialization, urbanization, marketization and internationalizaton, the country requires more from the financial sector to carry out adjustment of economic structure and pushing forward economic and social development.

The article listed six major tasks for developing the country's financial sector in the future. The six tasks are:

-- to further enhance sustained and healthy development of the financial sector, so as to meet the diversified financial needs in economic and social development;

-- to optimize the financial structure and improve the distribution of multi-layer financial market system and urban, rural and regional financial service distribution;

-- to further deepen the reform of financial enterprises and speed up shifting of operation mechanism;

-- to further improve financial services and control mechanism so as to promote steady and fast development of the national economic and realize development based on scientific concept;

-- to further push forward opening-up of the financial sector to boost development of China's financial industry and improve the industry's competitiveness;

-- to establish a sound legal system in the financial sector and intensify management to boost safe and stable development of the industry.

The article also stressed the importance to further the reform of state-owned banks and financial reform in rural areas.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)