The Chinese government will encourage foreign companies to invest in transportation, storage, distribution and infrastructure construction, according to the Foreign Investment Guidance List issued jointly by the State Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The new list was revised and drafted after China's entry into the WTO, and will guide the usage of foreign investment in China.
The list covers transportation industry related aspects, such as the construction and administration of public port facilities, regular and non-regular international sea freight business, multimodal transportation of containers, highway cargo transportation companies, construction and administration of depositing facilities related to transportation, and logistics and distribution of commodities in retail and wholesale trade.
The government has also loosened the rules limiting the proportion of foreign investment and abolished the requirements for China to have a stake in shared ports. By the end of the year, joint investments between Chinese and foreign companies will be allowed and by 2005, projects can be solely invested by foreign companies.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2002)
