Former SASAC chief: SOEs to catch up with the world's most outstanding enterprises in 7 to 10 years

State-owned enterprises(SOEs) should play a more active role in the future to make economic development more sustainable and stable, Li Rongrong, former chairman of the State Asset Supervision and Administration Commission（SASAC）said at Davos Forum in Tianjin on Sept 14. He added, in the next 7 to 10 years, state-owned enterprises will catch up with the world's most outstanding enterprises.

Li Rongrong said that at present while state-owned enterprises are growing bigger and stronger, compared with the advanced enterprises in the world, they are still lagged far behind. He thought if these enterprises want to catch up with the best in the world, they are expected to spend 7 to10 years.

Li pointed out that over 30 years of reform and opening up, after experienced two financial crisis, China's state-owned enterprises gave completely different performance. During the Asian financial crisis, state-owned enterprises in Hong Kong almost suffered a devastating blow, but during the crisis in 2008, state-owned enterprises became backbone of Hong Kong economy, and were also an important factor in economic stability.

Talking about large-scale enterprises, Li Rongrong noted that if they breach the rules of market economy, in such survival of the fittest market environment, these enterprises would also face closure.

By Huang Beibei, People's Daily Online