DHAKA: China’s leaders Tuesday promised a bigger role for the free market in the country’s state-dominated economy as they try to overhaul a worn-out growth model.

In a brief statement issued following a four-day meeting aimed at producing a reform blueprint for the coming decade, Communist Party leaders said state ownership will remain a pillar of the economy.

But they gave an unusually strong endorsement to Chinese private businesses, saying they also are ‘important components’ of the economy.

The statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency gave no indication the meeting considered any political reforms in China’s closed, secretive one-party system, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1856 HRS, NOV 12, 2013
RoR/RK