Roundup: West China Improves Business Environment

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Roundup: West China Improves Business Environment

The provinces and autonomous regions in west China have stepped up efforts to improve their business environment to attract more overseas investors.

The provinces and autonomous regions in west China have stepped up efforts to improve their business environment to attract more overseas investors.

Local sources in Lanzhou said priority is being given to building infrastructure facilities, improving the ecological environment and increasing government efficiency.

Shaanxi Province, a leading agricultural base, has already spent a total of 200 billion yuan (about 25 billion U.S. dollars) on infrastructure improvement, especially transportation facilities, over the last three years.

Gansu Province has finished building a number of highways, including the national highway from Tishui to Chankou, and others are under construction.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region now ranks first in transportation facilities construction in the country. So far, it has built 33,500 km of highways and 3,008 km of railways, and opened 60 air routes.

As for improving government efficiency, since last year the municipal government of Urumuqi, capital of Xinjiang, has revised or abolished a total of 53 regulations and documents, to simplify administrative procedures.

Lanzhou and Xi'an, capitals of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, respectively have vowed to improve their services for both residents and investors.

The provincial and regional procuratorates in west China have made efforts to crack down on unlawful practices, including power abuse, bribery and embezzlement, to build a favorable legal environment for investors.

With the improvement of the business environment, an increasingnumber of overseas investors have flocked to west China.

This year, 19 foreign energy firms, including BP Amoco, Royal/Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and the France-based TotalFinaElf Oil Company, joined the bidding for China's west-east natural gas pipeline project.

The west region includes nine provinces and autonomous regions and one municipality, with a total of 5.4 million square kilometers and a population of 285 million, accounting for 56 percent and 23 percent, respectively, of the nation's totals. However, its per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) is only equalto 60 percent of the national average.

West China has rich resources for the development of the metallurgical and petrochemical industries, as well as the chemical industry, with coal and salt as raw materials.

China adopted the strategy of developing the west in 1999.

Experts believe that the development of China's west is very important for the development of the country as a whole in the 21st century.

"The strategy provides an opportunity for us to catch up with China's coastal regions. My province will strive to become an ecological shelterbelt for the Yangtze River Valley, as well as aneconomic powerhouse in the west," said Sichuna's Governor Zhang Zhongwei.

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