China Builds Industrial Park for European Investors

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 18, 2002

China Builds Industrial Park for European Investors

China began early this week to build an industrial park for European entrepreneurs in north China in a bid to offer better services to foreign investors.

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China began early this week to build an industrial park for European entrepreneurs in north China in a bid to offer better services to foreign investors.

Located in Qinhuangdao, a port city 280 kilometers east of Beijing, the Euro-Industrial Park (EIP) is right at the center of the economic belt circling the Bohai Bay.

About 400 million people live in the area and the annual GDP of the region amounts to 480 billion U.S. dollars.

Shi Jianxin, director general of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Economy and Trade, said, "The EIP is a good choice for European investors who want to make profit in north China. On the other hand, it will also help Qinhuangdao to attract investment and optimize local industrial structure."

The EIP, jointly set up by the Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is expected to attract a total investment of 800 million U.S. dollars.

In the initial phase, the EIP will cover an area of four square kilometers, with an investment of 400 million yuan (US$48 million) in infrastructure facilities.

The EIP will take about 80 minutes to travel from Qinhuangdao to Beijing after an express railway linking Beijing and Shenyang, a key industrial base in northeast China, is completed by 2003.

The annual GDP within the area is forecast to reach US$1,000 billion in 2010.

Chen Jiagui, vice president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The European Union (EU) has its advantages in capital, technology, management and marketing, while China enjoys huge labor and market potentials. I expect the EIP to be a win-win model."

The EU is China's third largest trade partner, after Japan and the United States. Latest statistics from the Chinese Customs show bilateral trade for the two sides hit 76.63 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 11 percent year-on-year.

From January to November 2001, the EU invested in over 12,000 projects in China with the actual investment amounting to 29.357 billion U.S. dollars.

Shi Jianxin said that China needs to develop machinery, auto-making and electronics industries, while the EU has already had plenty of experiences in the development of the industries.

Shi said China encourages investment in such priority areas like electronics, information, bio-engineering, petrochemicals, and infrastructures such as ports, piers and roads.

He said China welcomes multinational companies to set up regional headquarters and R&D centers in China's major cities.

Foreign capital is welcome to help upgrade China's state-owned enterprises.

Qinhuangdao, one of the country's first economic and technological development zones approved in 1984, has so far attracted a total foreign capital of over US$3 billion from nearly 30 countries.

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