The
Beijing
municipal government has drawn up guidelines on foreign investment
in the tertiary industry, which are expected to take effect on
April 1.
Zhou He, vice-director with the Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic
Cooperation Committee, said: "The new policy is based on the
Chinese Foreign Investment Guidelines issued by the central
government this month and designed to face the challenges and
opportunities brought by China's accession to the World Trade Organization and
Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games."
The new guidelines are aimed at helping Beijing take the lead in
opening up the tertiary-industry sector, especially in commerce,
construction, education, environmental protection, finance,
logistics, telecommunications, tourism and transport.
Foreigners are allowed to set up wholly foreign-funded enterprises,
as long as they are engaged in architecture technology consultancy,
investment management, public relations, personnel training,
restaurant business, real-estate development and management.
Foreign commercial and logistics enterprises are encouraged to take
part in the operation of modern logistics, chain stores and
supermarkets, as well as e-business.
The municipal government is trying to sharpen the competitive edge
of its telecom companies by promoting Sino-foreign cooperation and
assets reorganization.
"For the tourism sector, the existing joint ventures should further
expand their scale of operations and enhance their efficiency and
service quality in a short period of time," Zhou said.
Meanwhile, the Beijing municipal government will spare no effort to
attract more international tourism organizations and foreign
business associations to set up regional headquarters and
representative institutes in the city and encourage foreign
investors to take part in the construction and renovation of
large-scale traveling facilities and visiting sites.
"An urgent task of the financial sector might be introducing more
experienced professionals, and the government should encourage
leading foreign financial institutions to set up intermediary and
consultancy subsidiaries or joint ventures here," Zhou said.
In
addition to the above sectors, the 2008 Olympic Games will offer
huge opportunities to Chinese and foreign investors.
"A
series of public-bid invitations is to be held for projects related
to the world's grandest sporting event," Zhou said.
The bids will involve energy supply, transport, environmental
protection, renovation of dangerous and old houses, and the
construction of sports stadiums and supporting facilities. The
total required investment is estimated to be 240 billion yuan
(US$28.9 billion).
The government will create a fair and transparent arena for
investors from home and abroad to compete in accordance with
international principles and market practice.
"We are striving to offer the participants sufficient, complete and
accurate information and policy consultancy services," Zhou
added.
(China
Daily March 27, 2002)