Delegation enhances trade ties
By Shao Xiaoyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-23 09:41

More than 200 government officials and business people will visit Tokyo to forge closer trade ties between East China's Zhejiang Province and Japan next week, local officials said.

Zhejiang Vice-Governor Zhang Mengjin, who is taking part in the delegation, said Japan's industrial trade sectors would be important partners in the development of the province's Hangzhou Bay region.

The delegation will hold an introduction meeting next Monday in order to encourage Chinese and Japanese enterprises to get involved in the development of the Hangzhou Bay Industrial Belt and promote the tourism industry in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang Province.

"We plan to build the Hangzhou Bay region into a well-structured and innovative 'Golden Industrial Belt'," Zhang said.

Located at the south of the Yangtze River Delta, the Hangzhou Bay region, which includes six cities in Zhejiang Province, has one of the best business environments in the country.

Official statistics show that there were 2,023 Japanese enterprises with a total contractual investment of US$3.1 billion in Zhejiang Province at the end of 2003, making Japan the province's fourth-largest overseas investor.

"The Japanese enterprises mainly focus on manufacturing industries, such as electrical equipment, communications appliances, and textiles," said Feng Ming, director of Zhejiang Province's Foreign Trade and Economic Department.

In an investment boom, 18 Japanese enterprises from the world's top 500 corporations have channelled funds into the province, Feng said.

And the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area (HEDA) ranked first among China's 75 development zones in 2004 in terms of its investment environment, according to a study conducted by the Japan External Trade Organization.

Six wholly Japan-funded enterprises and two joint ventures were set up in HEDA between January and June, with a total investment of US$80.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 59 per cent.

NEC System Technologies (Hangzhou) Ltd was established in Hangzhou on July 14.

Matsushita Electric (China) Co Ltd, which already has six companies in Zhejiang Province is also planning to invest in a US$150 million project in Hangzhou, Feng said.

"We will further optimize the development and tourist environment, providing good conditions for the development of enterprises," said Zhang.

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