The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invested US$1.2 billion in China's more than 90 projects, according to a senior economist with the bank.

Peng Longyun, with the ABD China office, said that the ABD loans mainly went to the fields of communications, energy resources, environment protection and water conservancy, finance and industries, agriculture and natural resources in China.

Apart from public loans, ADB also provided US$180 million in free technical aid, and more than US$185 million of loans and capital stock investment for Chinese private businesses.

Of all the ADB-loaned projects, 80 percent are in western China, Peng told the three-day conference on APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Recycling-based Economy and China's Western Development, which will conclude Sunday in Yinchuan, capital city of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

As one of the leading stockholders, China took part in ADB in 1986. China and ADB has conducted wider cooperation in economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection over the past nearly two decades.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2005)