Speaking at the 16th Communist Party Congress, two of China's economics ministers promised domestic private firms treatment closer to that accorded to state enterprises and foreign-invested firms.
Zeng Peiyan, minister of the State Development Planning Commission, said that his department would give approval to bond issues by financially sound private firms of good standing – a privilege hitherto reserved for the government and state firms. Mean while, Li Rongrong, minister of the State Economic and Trade Commission, said that, with reform, banks could one day make lending decisions without distinguishing the kind of ownership of the borrower.