Auditing is an important supervision tool over the economy and will play a special role in guaranteeing that the goals listed in China's 11th Five-Year Plan are achieved, stressed Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday.

He made the remarks in a letter congratulating the opening of the 10th conference of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (AOSAI) in Shanghai.

Auditing is irreplaceable in keeping a nation's finance and economy in good order, enhancing capital efficiency, boosting democratic and legal progress, promoting a clean government and ensuring healthy economic and social development, Wen wrote.

China has been making great efforts to improve its auditing system. The new Audit Law, passed in February and put into effect on June 1, has further strengthened the supervision authority of audit departments and helped improve the balance between the budget plan and implementation, he said.

China had seen the number of government departments and institutions, state-owned enterprises, as well as NGOs dealing with international loans and assistance, required to be audited grow from about 1,200 in 1983, when China's National Audit Office (NAO) was first established, to more than 125,000 last year.

The NAO on Monday released its 2005 annual audit report covering 42 government departments, which found the Beijing Railway Bureau, the State General Administration of Sport, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and some other units involved in misappropriation of public funds, unreported sales of assets and other financial misdeeds.

China has been elected the chair country of the AOSAI, the second time since China served as chair country from 1991 to 1993, and NAO Director Li Jinhua is the president of the organization.

"I hope all members can fully discuss and exchange their skills and experience in auditing during the conference and make contributions to auditing in their own countries and regions as well as to the Asian economy," Wen said in his letter.

The AOSAI was established in 1979 and has 43 members, including supreme audit institutions from the Asian and Oceanian regions.