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 percent 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 percent 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
favorable 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 cooperation 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.
(China Daily
November 18, 2004)