Environment-aware management personnel in a state-level high-tech industrial development zone in east China have helped it draw increasing numbers of investors from home and abroad.

Official statistics show that investors from dozens of countries, including the Republic of Korea, the United States, Singapore and Japan, have opened more than 1,000 businesses in the Weihai High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in the city of Weihai, Shandong Province.

These businesses, with combined investment of 13 billion yuan (1.6 billion US dollars), are mostly engaged in the areas of information technology, new materials, bioengineering, and mechanical and electrical equipment.

Many investors say the clean environment is conducive to ensuring product quality.

Since it was established in 1991, the zone has given top priority to environmental protection and used 620 million yuan for pollution control and the improvement of infrastructure.

The zone has rejected investment projects worth two billion yuan that may be potential polluters.