The Shanghai New International Expo Centre will hold the first electronic exhibition from March 12-15. The electronic China 2002 or the International Trade Fair for Components, Assemblies, Electronics Production and Photonic Technologies will be organized by Messe Muenchen GmbH, China National Electronics Import & Export Corp and China Electronic Appliance Corp.

Airline mergers

China Eastern Airlines president Ye Yigan said preparations are underway for China Northwest Airlines and Yunnan Airlines to merge. The new company will buy 30 to 50 Airbues within three years. China Eastern will become one of the country's three biggest aviation groups approved by the State Council. Under the plan, the other six airlines affiliated to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China will be reformed into two groups, with Air China joining China Aviation Corp and China Southwest Airlines and China Southern Airlines uniting with China Northern Airlines and Xinjiang Airlines. After the three groups are set up, they will be freed from the administration of the CAAC.

Taiwan ventures

Shanghai is building a 6-square-kilometre industrial park in Jiading County mainly for Taiwanese-invested ventures. The city will launch another Taiwanese industrial park in Songjiang District before the end of the year. The two industrial parks are part of the city's plan to boost the tide of Taiwanese investment. Jiading and Songjiang are where most Taiwanese-invested projects are located. By the end of 2001, Jiading had 590 Taiwanese-invested firms with a total investment of $1 billion.

Exports rise

Shanghai plans to export $29 billion worth of products this year. The figure represents a rise of 5 per cent over 2001. The slowdown of the world's economy dampened the foreign trade sector in Shanghai last December. Zhu Xiaoming, director of Shanghai Foreign Trade and Economic Commission, said the city will further liberalize the export business so that more industrial and private firms will have access to overseas market.

Students flood

Foreign students studying in Shanghai now outnumber local Chinese students studying abroad. A total of 6,300 students from 113 countries are attending 24 local colleges and universities, majoring in more than 200 subjects including culture, science, medicine, engineering and arts. Of the 100,000 Shanghai people who studied abroad during the past 20 years, 20 per cent have returned home.

Investment abroad

Shanghai will invest $70 million overseas this year, according to a local foreign trade official. While addressing a Shanghai conference on foreign trade and economic co-operation which opened on Monday, Zhu Xiaoming, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, said this year the city would be starting up more new businesses in developed countries and setting up a group of research and development and design centres focusing on light industrial products, textiles, machinery and home appliances.

Norwegian licence

Shanghai Foreign Service Co Ltd has become China's first to be awarded an ISO 9001 certificate by Norway's Detnorsk Veritas. Gaining the certificate means the company is able to further expand business abroad, said Gu Jiadong, general manager of the company.

China Daily news

| frontpage | nation | business | HK\Taiwan | snapshots | focus |
| governmentinfo | economic insights | campus life | Shanghai today | metropolitan |