China's capital city Beijing welcomes foreign participation in the construction of its urban railway communications system.

This was the message expressed by Beijing Mayor Liu Qi here on Friday during separate meetings with Lord Charles Powell, President of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and Klaus Wucherer, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.

Liu briefed the visitors on the city's railway communications development, explaining that Beijing's objective is to have 300 kilometers of urban railways before the year 2008, an important undertaking given that Beijing currently has only 50 kilometers of subways.

He said that this would be a large-scale investment project, and expressed his hope that foreign companies would participate in the development of the city's urban railway communications system.

Powell said British companies were interested in Beijing's urban construction and there were broad cooperative prospects in technological consultations, project management and financing.

Wucherer said Siemens was confident about China's future development and was considering moving its Asian-Pacific headquarters to Beijing.

(People's Daily September 7, 2002)