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Foreign investment
The increase of actual use of foreign investment in China's western regions exceeded the nation's average by 128 percentage points in the first two months this year, an official from the Ministry of Commerce says.
During the first two months, the western regions' actual use of foreign investment was $1.393 billion, more than double over the same period of 2007. A total of 254 foreign companies were approved to invest in the region, said Ji Xiaofeng, a ministry official in charge of foreign investment management at the 12th Investment & Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China.
Ji attributed the increase to the nation's push for foreign investment in the middle and western regions.
Sweet smell of business
For the city of Luoyang, the annual Peony Fair is not only a "giant magnet" to visitors, but also an occasion when foreign and domestic investors gather to admire the flowers and sign business agreements.
Contracts worth 13 billion yuan were signed during last year's fair, according to the Luoyang government in Henan province.
"This beautiful flower has promoted the city's image and its investment environment," said Yu Ying, director of the Luoyang Peony Office, a governmental branch set up to supervise the city's "peony economy".
She expected that this year's fair that began April 1 and runs through May 10 would result in a record number of investment agreements.
Macao reclamation
Macao's land reclamation projects proposals will ease the land shortage on the island city and enhance living conditions, say local lawmakers.
A report by The Macao Daily News says Macao has recently submitted five land reclamation projects totaling 5 sq km to the central government for approval.
Due to previous reclamation along the coastline, Macao's land area has grown from 11.6 sq km in 1912, when measurements were first taken, to 28.6 sq km, according to the latest official statistics.
Foreign firms rise in Guangzhou
The number of new foreign-funded enterprises in Guangzhou was 959 in 2007, nearly triple the number of foreign companies that closed or left the city, according to the latest report released by the city's foreign trade and economic cooperation bureau.
The bureau said that 675 foreign companies increased their investment in Guangzhou last year, which demonstrated the confidence that some foreign investors have in the southern business hub.
A total of 347 foreign firms closed, most of which were in the labor-intensive textile, clothing, shoe and plastics industries.
Holiday hits housing market
The real estate market in Tianjin fell in the previous weeks, partly due to the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday.
Statistics from the China Index Academy, which tracks property prices, shows a total of 968 commercial apartments were sold from March 31 to April 6, 30.16 percent lower than the previous week.
The average price stood at 6,803 yuan per sq m, 3.45 percent lower than the previous week.
Shenzhen-Vietnam trade pact
An economic and trade cooperation project between Vietnam and Shenzhen was signed last week in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
According to the deal, 10 enterprises from Shenzhen, including CATIC Shenzhen and Neptunus Group, will invest in a 1.6-million-sq-m economic and trade cooperation area located in Vietnam and start operations by the end of this year.
The economic and trade area focuses on developing electronics and information technology, pharmaceutical and garment-processing industries.
And Export-Import Bank of China, China Development Bank, Bank of China and China Export & Credit Insurance Corp will offer financial and insurance services for the project.
East-West trade fair
During the five-day 12th China East-West Cooperation Investment and Trade Fair last week in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, 103 foreign investment projects were signed with a total value of $3.817 billion - an increase of 43.6 percent over the previous session.
Another 1,416 cooperation agreements among Chinese provinces and foreign countries were inked, with a total investment of 315.607 billion yuan, an increase of 83.6 percent over last year.
The fair is an important business platform for cooperation between China and the western world and this year attracted more than 100,000 businessmen from 56 countries and regions.
New Tianjin bonded zone
The State Council has approved a new bonded zone in Tianjin, a move to boost the opening-up strategy in the northern coastal municipality.
The bonded zone covers an area of 195.63 hectares at the Airport Industrial Park, says an official from the Tianjin Binhai New Area, where the park is located.
The zone will enjoy the most favorable policies in taxation and foreign exchange policies. It will offer comprehensive services in international shipping, distribution, purchase, transit trade and export processing businesses.
The official said the preferential policies would benefit plants in the new bonded zone, including the Airbus A320 assembly plant that was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in June 2006. It is expected to start operations in August.
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