The removal of what he described as a "giant malignant tumor" has made the local economy restore to its health, said the mayor, who is attending the on-going first session of the 10th National People's Congress.

The GDP of the city last year went up 15.5 percent, averaging 5, US$800 per capita, a growth among the fastest in the country's 15 sub-provincial cities. The city's fiscal revenue grew over 15 percent while the average per-capita disposable income increased 14 percent. Over 90 percent of the local residents say they are satisfied with the law and order in the city.

Thanks to the improvement in the investment environment, such big multinational corporations as Dell, National and Kodak have injected additional investment in the city. Dell raked in 17.5 billion yuan (US$2.12 billion) in sales revenue and Kodak plans to bring its annual output of disposable cameras from 20 million to 120 million and its output value up to US$ one billion.

The city's 2002 foreign trade topped US$15 billion. With foreign-funded enterprises producing 80 percent of the city's total industrial output value, Xiamen's external dependency rose to over 50 percent. Xiamen Port handled 1.75 million TEUs of

containers last year, edging into the world's top 40; its airport' s throughput of passengers reached more than four million, ranking 6th in the country.

Zhang said that the city is redoubling its efforts to improve the environment for foreign investment and formulating a series of preferential policies to attract foreign capital. It is now encouraging foreign investors to build high-grade hotels and office towers in the city.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2003)