More foreign investment comes to vast west By Fu Jin (China Daily) Updated: 2004-11-17 21:47
Overseas investors have shown great enthusiasm in the country's western
region this year with a batch of projects worth millions of dollars being
established.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in western China is expected to reach US$3
billion by the end of this year, a 70 per cent increase compared to last year,
said Du Ping, department director of the Office for Western Region Development
of the State Council.
"Compared with previous years, this year we are expecting to achieve great
success in attracting foreign investment," Du said at yesterday's press
conference held before the two-day Western Forum of China 2004, which starts
today in Nanning.
Du said 18 projects with a total investment of about US$2 billion from
multinational companies, including chip maker Intel, will be put into operation
by the end of this year in the nation's western areas, with most being in high
value-added industries.
The projects will contribute to the upgrading of industry and improve the
infrastructure situation in the region as they focused on information
technology, clean energy, and environmental protection.
The official also said the government will continue its national strategy to
develop western regions.
He said the ongoing macro-control measures, aiming at cooling down some
over-heated industries, will not slow down the development of the western
region.
However, Du said the western region's ability to attract foreign investment
remains weak, as statistics from the National Development and Reforms Commission
show that the FDI in China's western areas accounts for only 3.2 per cent of the
total national FDI, more 2 percentages points down compared with the figure in
2000.
In the past few years, foreign investment was mainly concentrated in
manufacturing industries, in which the coastal region enjoyed a geographical
advantage because enterprises in this area spend less time and money
transporting materials and products between factories and overseas markets.
"Therefore, despite some favourable policies in the western region, most
overseas enterprises took the eastern region as their priority," he said.
The Western Forum of China 2004 will attract over 300 domestic and overseas
representatives, including high-ranking government officials, foreign diplomatic
envoys in China, heads of enterprises in the western region, overseas investors
and economists.
Representatives will discuss four main topics at the forum: agriculture in
the region, new patterns of industrialization, competitive service industries,
and co-operation between eastern and western China.
The first such forum, held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in 2000, focused on
the relationship between governments and the market mechanism in western China;
and the second, held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, in 2001, concentrated on
improving the investment environment in China's western
regions.
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