Zheng Zhihai, president of the MOFTEC's Institute of Foreign Trade Research, made the forecast at the New Century Asia-Pacific CEO Forum that opened Saturday in Chaohu, a city in east China's Anhui Province.

In his point of view, joining the WTO will lead to further improvement of China's investment environment, and boost the confidence of foreign investors and profit forecasts of foreign investment projects in China.

According to his estimate, China is drawing an annual US$42.7 billion in foreign investment at present.

By the end of April this year, China has approved 371,000 foreign-invested enterprises, with the actual foreign investment hitting US$359.58 billion.

In the first four months of the year, the country approved 7,433 foreign-invested enterprises, up 22.6 percent over the same period of last year.

In the same period, contract values of foreign investment projects surged 38.3 percent to US$22.6 billion.

Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore are the top five sources of overseas investment in China.

A WTO membership will also boost China's trade with other WTO members to a new level, said Zheng.

He predicted that by 2005, the country's import and export volume will hit 700 to 750 billion US dollars.

China's accession to the WTO will enhance its exchanges and co-operation with other members in trade policies and market environment, consolidate and boost China's accession to foreign markets, said Zheng.

According to the latest statistics, the WTO now has 140 members,while 29 countries and regions are applying for memberships. More than 90 percent of the world trade volume are now co-ordinated under the frame of WTO.

The impact of a WTO membership on the Chinese economy is a major topic of the CEO forum.

(Eastday 05/21/2001)