¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The individual and private sectors of the economy can play a positive role in the development of China's socialist market economy, according to a well-known Chinese economist.

¡¡¡¡Zhang Zhuoyuan, a noted research fellow of the Economic StudiesInstitute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) saidthat the private sector now accounts for over one third of China'sgross domestic product (GDP).

¡¡¡¡By the end of 2002, China had reported a total of 23.77 millionindustrial and commercial units and 47.43 million laborers with registered capital up to 378.2 billion yuan (45.7 billion US dollars), according to statistics released by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

¡¡¡¡The individual sectors of the economy are distributed mainly inthe catering industry, social services and other tertiary industries.

¡¡¡¡The private sectors of the economy, which started in the late 1980s, have maintained a fast growth rate of over 15 percent in the past decade since 1992, when the late senior Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping promoted the idea that the market economy can be pushed under socialism.

¡¡¡¡"Thanks to the vigorous growth of the non-public sectors, commodity, labor, capital and technology markets have been greatlyadvanced, which in turn promoted the fast and continued growth of the national economy," said Zhang Zhuoyuan, who is also a member of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the ChinesePeople's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

¡¡¡¡A decision approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee, held from Oct. 11 to 14, called for vigorous efforts to promote and guide the private sector and grantprivate enterprises the same treatment in investment, financing, taxation, land use and foreign trade.

¡¡¡¡Non-public capital, noted the decision, should be allowed to enter infrastructure, public utilities and other sectors not prohibited by laws and regulations.

¡¡¡¡"In this way," Zhang said, "enterprises in the non-public sectors and publicly-owned enterprises are given an equal footing for competition."

¡¡¡¡"It shows that both the economic and social status of the non-public sectors have been improved in China," Zhang said. Enditem