A total of 24 key state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in northeast China are publicly opening up their businesses for both domestic and overseas investors, a step further to promote ongoing reforms in the country's old industrial base.

It is expected that the move will help to improve the SOEs' overall capacity and upgrade their products through system innovation, said an official with the local state asset watchdog.

To realize the goal, the 24 enterprises will try to introduce strategic investors and develop mixed-ownership economies by way of setting up joint ventures, cooperative production and transferring state-owned stock rights, according to Liu Yongsheng,director of the Shenyang Municipal Commission for Supervision and Management of State-owned Properties.

Located in Shenyang, capital of China's old industrial base of Liaoning Province, the 24 enterprises register gross assets of 79.23 billion yuan (about 9.5 billion US dollars), some 71.8 percent of the properties held by all the SOEs in the city.

The 24 backbone enterprises, whose businesses cover machinery, pharmaceutical, computer sciences and many other sectors, boast a long history of growth, strong technological competence and competitiveness in the domestic and even overseas market, said Liu.

They employ 122,000 workers, which constitute 51.4 percent of all employees in the SOEs here, Liu noted.

He noted that the 24 large-scale enterprises, with satisfying business profits, are representative of Shenyang's SOEs.

Shenyang will soon publish specific measures to tackle a number of problems concerning the allocation of employees and relief of the enterprises' social burdens, a bid to create a good environment for overseas investors to participate in the cooperation campaign.

Specific information concerning business invitations of the 24 enterprises will be published at a website of SOEs reform in Liaoning Province, a website of the Shenyang Property Right Trading and the websites of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

The 24 enterprises include Shenyang Machine Tool Group, Shenyang Air-Blower Group, Shenyang Hongmei Enterprises Group, and Changbai Computer Group.

SOEs and those enterprises whose shares are controlled by the state have always played a vital role in the city's economic and social development.

By the end of 2004, the city had registered 520 such enterprises and their total assets reached 110.4 billion yuan (13.3 billion US dollars). China has been stepping up the reform of its old industrial bases and traditional sectors over the past years through restructuring, system innovation, introducing high-tech industries and market mechanisms. It aims to revive their economic growth and enhance their competitiveness.

Source: Xinhua