The American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in South China launched a three-year plan yesterday to assist earthquake-affected areas rebuild their economies.

"Motivated by a sense of decency and compassion, our members have collectively donated more than 250 million yuan," said Harley Seyedin, president of Amcham South China, which has more than 1,200 member companies.

"But long-term support for the disaster-hit area is more important."

Accordingly, Amcham South China called upon its members to launch a project to help rebuild quake-affected areas and boost their economic development.

The three-year project would be carried out in three phases.

In the first phase, Amcham South China would call upon its members with established presence in affected areas to rebuild their operations to be bigger and better than before.

The second step would involve calling upon companies looking to expand in quake-affected areas to do whatever possible to enrich the local economies and communities.

"I urge our members to go there and to invest, to create jobs and opportunities for people who have lost so much," Seyedin said.

Amcham South China has confirmed its member companies would soon invest $4 billion in western China, with Sichuan as the site of focus.

The third step would involve urging US firms looking to enter the China market to choose Sichuan as their investment location.

"I hope the new investment will help the affected areas restore their original economic situation and ultimately go far beyond their original level," Seyedin said.

"We can play only a small part in the healing process and in the rebuilding effort, but we will do so with passion and focus."

In addition, Guangdong province has dispatched a large number of rescuers and relief materials to affected areas.

By Wednesday, Guangdong had sent 1,959 rescuers from public security, healthcare, firefighting, frontier-defense and earthquake-response sectors to affected areas.

(China Daily May 23, 2008)