Beijing Becomes Regional Headquarters for 11 Multi-national Corporations

Eleven multi-national corporations which have their regional headquarters located in Beijing will get more preferential policies in the future.

The Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Commission has issued certificates to the 11 transnational corporations, including IBM, Samsung, Nortel Networks, Compaq, and Lucent Technologies, to confirm their establishment of regional headquarters in Beijing.

The 11 companies were expected to get preferential treatment including breaks in tax deduction, market access, foreign exchange management, and transfer of personnel.

Beijing Vice Mayor Zhang Mao said that Beijing, as well as the rest of the country, has accelerated internationalization of local foreign trade as China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) approaches.

Statistics show that Beijing had approved over 15,000 foreign- funded businesses with contracted foreign capital of US$ 28.7 billion by the end of May, 2000.

Over 150 of the World Top 500 firms have invested in Beijing.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/