A senior Chinese official called on Tuesday for effective reforms of the international financial system to enable the world to ward off the global financial crisis, while stressing that the Chinese government would continue to cooperate with the international community in the fight against the crisis.

"The Chinese leaders have repeatedly urged the world community to enhance coordination in policy making, further cooperation and take concerted efforts while facing the unprecedentedly severe challenges facing the world economy as a result of the deteriorating financial crisis," said Xu Kuangdi, chairman of the China Federation of Industrial Economics, and president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Science, in a speech at the Global China Business Meeting in Barcelona.

He said that China's economic leaders hold the governments, and people from the economic, financial and entrepreneur circles should dig deep to learn a true lesson from the crisis and properly handle relations between deposits and consumption, virtual economy and real economy, and financial innovation and supervision.

In this regard, Xu, a former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made three proposals:

First, the international financial organization system should be improved, and its role should be played to the full to safeguard the international and regional financial stability, and tighten financial supervision. In the new system, emerging economies and developing countries should be granted more power indecision making.

Secondly, the international financial supervision system must be reformed so as to establish reasonable and effective financial supervision standards, early warning systems and risk prevention systems.

Thirdly, efforts should be stepped up to push forward the construction of a multilateral international monetary system in a bid to maintain stability of the system.

The three-day Global China Business Meeting, under the theme "GLobalizing Chinese firms," has drawn some 400 business and political leaders from China and the rest of the world, including Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng. It is the foremost annual gathering of Chinese business leaders and their global counterparts.

Discussion topics for the meeting include the economic outlook for China and the world, China's Olympic momentum, and China's role in global trade, as well as a specific focus on themes like private equity, merger and acquisitions, corporate governance, branding, natural resources, and the efforts to ensure sustainable growth.

The meeting, in its 4th edition and formerly known as the China Europe Business Meeting, is being held in Spain for the first time. It is co-hosted by Geneva-based strategic advisory firm Horasis, the China Federation of Industrial Economics, and Casa Asia, an institution under the Spanish government.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2008)