Government funding of social welfare systems needs to be enhanced, to the tune of about 35 percent of the financial revenue in 2020, according to a report released by the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) under the State Council yesterday.

"A better social welfare system should cover more people with diversified policies, and help cushion the blow from the global economic downturn," Tang Min, the deputy secretary-general of CDRF, said at a symposium on Restructuring Social Security System yesterday in Beijing.

Quoting the report, he said financial revenue should account for about 26 percent of the gross domestic product in 2020, as a promise of the enhanced investment in social welfare system.

"The government launched a 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, and we are confident that a promising investment would be made towards improving the level of people's livelihood," he told China Daily.

"China would like to share ideas with northern European countries having experience of successful development of the social welfare system," he said.

Li Shi, one of the report's writers, said that the government could buy service from private institutions to help enhance the social welfare system's efficiency.

"Non-governmental organizations could play a bigger role in cooperating with the government, as they have more direct contact with the grassroots people," Christopher Arthur Spohr, with the PRC Resident Mission of Asian Development Bank, told China Daily yesterday.

Lars Bo Kaspersen, the professor of Niels Brock (Copenhagen Business College), yesterday said the report was "balanced".

(China Daily April 3, 2009)