Shanghai's Exports, Foreign Investment UpShanghai witnessed a sharp increase in exports and also a rise in foreign investment in the first half of the year, official statistics indicated Thursday.In the January-June period, exports by this largest industrial and commercial center of China amounted to 11.69 billion US dollars, compared with 8.035 billion US dollars in the same period last year. Foreign investment in Shanghai has also reversed the trend of decline, due to the growth of the world economy, said Zhu Xiaoming, director of Shanghai Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Committee. In the first six months of this year, the number of approved overseas-funded projects, contractual overseas investment and realized overseas investment increased 12.6 percent, 6.3 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively. Zhu said the rise of exports and foreign investment shows that Shanghai has got out of the shadow of Asian financial crisis. "Shanghai's foreign trade companies are making preparations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization," he said. This year, Shanghai's exports may surpass 22 billion US dollars and the city may attract more than 4.5 billion US dollars of contractual overseas investment, he predicted. Shanghai is the second largest exporter in China after southern Guangdong Province. |
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