The state exercises the ownership of SOEs in the interest of the general public. It should carefully evaluate and disclose the rationales that justify state ownership and subject these to a recurrent review.
I.A. The ultimate purpose of state ownership of enterprises should be to maximise long-term value for society, in an efficient and sustainable manner.
I.B. The government should develop an ownership policy. The policy should, inter alia, define the overall rationales and goals for state ownership, the state’s and other shareholders’ role in the governance of SOEs, how the state will implement its ownership policy, and the respective roles and responsibilities of those government offices involved in its implementation.
I.C. The ownership policy should be subject to appropriate procedures of accountability to relevant representative bodies and disclosed to the general public. The government should review at regular intervals its ownership policy and evaluate its implementation.
I.D. The state should define the rationales for owning individual SOEs and subject these to recurrent review. The rationales for ownership, and any public policy objectives that individual SOEs, or groups of SOEs, are required to achieve should be clearly linked to their main line of business, mandated by the relevant authorities and publicly disclosed.