Chinese EDZs to Follow International Management Rules

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 20, 2001

Chinese EDZs to Follow International Management Rules

Authorities of the Beijing Economic and Technical Development Zone, the only state-level EDZ (economic development zone) in Beijing, announced Monday that all administrative fee charges upon enterprises in thezone will be repealed from January 1, 2002.

��The measure will make the zone the first Chinese EDZ without administrative charges, in conformity with international practices.

��The zone will keep only 15 fee items, which will be integrated into the zone's budget and collected as a single charge, accordingto Qin Dianding, a senior official of the zone.

��Since its establishment in August 1994, the zone has seen the setting up of some 1,000 domestic and overseas enterprises, with atotal investment of 3.5 billion US dollars. Of these enterprises, foreign-funded ones have poured about 2.67 billion US dollars in as investment, according to the zone's management committee.

��Moreover, 32 of the World Top 500 Companies, like Nokia, GM, Lucent, Unilever and IBM, have set up enterprises in the development zone.

��The pillar industries in the development zone, in the southeastern suburbs of Beijing, are involved in electronics, information, bio-technology, new medicines and new materials.

��The zone reported 5.1 billion yuan (about 614 million US dollars) in GDP in the first 10 months of this year, up 155 percent from the same period of last year; its exports during the period reached 860 million US dollars-worth, up 805 percent, statistics show.

��The zone's GDP and output value will reach 28 billion yuan and 100 billion yuan, respectively, in 2005, according to official sources.

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