Central China sees rapid FDI inflow (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-06-24 11:13
The amount of foreign direct investment used in central China over the first
five months of this year reached 1.5 billion US dollars, up 10.5 percent from
the same period last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of
Commerce.
The figure is much higher than the national average of 2.78
percent and 1.74 percent higher than the western area.
Lin Zheying,
deputy director general of the Ministry's Foreign Investment Administration,
attributed the rapid growth to the Rejuvenating Central China Strategy formally
put forth by the central government in April.
The strategy targeting six
provinces namely Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan comes after the
Opening-up Strategy for the Eastern Coast in the 1980s, the West Development
Strategy in 2000 and the Rejuvenating Northeast China Strategy in 2003.
"Without the rise of the central region, the rejuvenation of China will
be hopeless. If we (the six provinces) fail to seize the opportunities brought
by the new strategy, the central region will continue to lag behind the rest of
China in one or two decades," said He Tongxin, vice-governor of Hunan Province
at a press conference looking ahead to the First Investment and Trade Exposition
for Central China.
Although the six provinces cover a land area that is
more than one ninth of China's total territory, its foreign trade volume was
three percent of the country's total while its actual use of foreign direct
investment only represents seven percent, China's official data revealed.
To remedy the situation, Vice-Minister Liao Xiaoqi said that the
ministry had planned to release a package of incentives during the trade and
investment exposition scheduled for September 26-28.
He said that the
ministry has initiated a series of symposiums in major cities such as Beijing,
Changsha, Xi'an, Hefei and Shenyang where representatives from academia and
business communities were invited to brainstorm feasible policies to enliven the
economy of central China.
These incentives may further raise the
region's foreign investment and trade, Lin Zheying predicted.
Sandwiched
between the western hinterland and advanced eastern coast, central China can
make use of its geographical advantages to develop into the country's logistics
centers, experts said. It is also widely viewed as an emerging processing base
to eclipse the eastern coast.
He Tongxin said that the strategy is
benefiting the local economy as its cross-province economic trade volume from
January to May totaled 71 billion yuan with more than 80 percent coming from
cooperation with the eastern coast.
The Investment and Trade Exposition
for Central China will be jointly held by eight ministries with the approval of
the State Council. Delegates from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Singapore,
Germany and European Union are expected to attend the three-day
event. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
|