Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China had an inflow of US$580 million of overseas investment from January to June this year, up 19.67 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Information from the provincial investment promotion bureau said that the province approved 127 new overseas-financed ventures in the first six months of the year, with the contractual overseas investment totaling US$1.26 billion.

Overseas investment in the province has come from 26 countries and regions, including France, Finland, the Netherlands, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates. 55.5 percent of the total contractual overseas investment, or US$698 million, has gone to the industrial sector.

China borders Russia in the fast east via Heilongjiang Province.

Experts attributed the leap in overseas investment to a number of factors, including the industrial transfer on the international front, and expansion of the drive to rejuvenate the industrial rust-belt in northeast China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2005)