German enterprises are confident in investing in Shanghai because of its investment environment, said Ernst Behrens, president of Siemens (China).

During German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's recent visit to China, Volkswagen decided to invest 3 billion Deutsche marks (1.6 billion US dollars) in China in the next five years. Bayer has decided to finance a factory in southern Shanghai with Shanghai Chloralkali company. The factory will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons of polycarbonate.

Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communications Ltd. plans to get a loan of one billion yuan (120 million US dollars) from the Bank of China to double its sales volume this year and to achieve 7.3 billion yuan (880 million US dollars) by 2000.

According to the Shanghai Foreign Investment Working Committee, Germany financed 25 projects in Shanghai involving contractual investment of 226 million US dollars in the first nine months of this year, ranking third along with the Netherlands after Hong Kong and the United States.

The German Krupp and Thyssen Company invested 1.25 billion US dollars in Shanghai's Pudong district to produce stainless steel products. Volkswagen produced 235,000 Sanata cars in 1998, making up half of China's total car output.

One-third of Siemen's 56 joint ventures in China are located in Shanghai. The Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communications Ltd. now produces 3 million mobile phones each year. It has become the largest goods supplier in the Asia and Pacific region.

Siemens Shanghai Communication Terminals, founded in 1995, now produces 6 million telephones a year. Seventy percent of the phones are sold to over 50 foreign countries and regions.