Quake-hit Sichuan draws overseas investment

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-09 21:34

XIAMEN - The investment environment of quake-hit Sichuan Province had experienced increasing foreign investment in the past few months, said a local official at an investment fair in China's eastern Fujian Province.

"The provincial government had emphasized both relief work and development after the fatal earthquake," said Huang Xiaoxiang, vice governor of the southwestern Sichuan Province, at a special investment seminar held for the quake-hit province in the coastal Xiamen City.

In the first seven months, the contract volume of foreign investment in the province increased 30 percent year-on-year and four more international companies among the top 500 global corporations had set-up operations, Huang said.

Currently, 139 top 500 global corporations were operating in Sichuan.

Since the May 12 quake that killed 69,226 people, more than 90 percent of the major enterprises in the province had resumed operation and 93 percent of businesses and service networks had been restored, he said.

In addition, the provincial gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half had reached 538.85 billion yuan (about US$78.7 billion), up9.1 percent year-on-year.

The export and import volume of Sichuan in the January to July period had increased 58.4 percent compared to the same time last year.

"Sichuan is still in need of a large amounts of funding despite the efforts of the central government, local governments and other social sectors," Huang said.

Larger investment would be drawn by the need for 1.67 trillion yuan in reconstruction funds after the devastating quake that cost the province more than 1.1 trillion yuan, he added.

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