China to Utilize More Foreign Investment: Wu YiChina will unswervingly pursue the reform and opening-up, stick to the principle of utilizing foreign investment in an active, rational and effective way no matter what happens to international situation.The remark was made Friday by State Councilor Wu Yi at a luncheon of the Fourth China Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, a booming special economic zone in southeast China. In her speech "An Open China with Brilliant Future", Wu hailed it is a meaningful way to jointly study the role and development trend of international direct investment in the process of economic globalization, explore new approaches to consolidate international investment cooperation, and look into the prospect of China's foreign investment attraction. It is an important component of China's fundamental state policy of opening-up to absorb foreign direct investment (FDI), she said. China's foreign investment has kept increasing in the past 20-odd years. According to Wu, China has accumulatively approved establishment of more than 350,000 foreign-funded firms with a total contractual capital of US$641.7 billion and actual investment of over US$327.7 billion by the end of July of this year. "From 1993 to 1999, China has been the developing country absorbing the largest amount of foreign capital seven years in a row," she said. She recalled that after the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis, international capital fled away and China was inevitably affected to some extent. However, many foreign investors have come back again, which is indeed heartening for the Chinese people, she said. The active utilization of foreign capital has not only promoted the sustained, sound and swift development of the Chinese economy, in particular its economic restructuring and industrial upgrading, but also provided to the vast number of international investors precious business opportunities and enormous marketplace, she said. During the luncheon, which was attended by more than 500 Chinese and foreign businessmen present at the current investment and trade fair, Wu said moreover, it has enabled the Chinese economy to integrate more with the world and added enchanting brilliance to the prosperity and development of global economy. The achievements of China's foreign investment attraction should be attributed to the political stability, social security and relatively high speed of economic development, she added. Besides, China has gradually summed up some mature practices after the exploration. The practices including: -- Enriching and improving laws, regulations and policies related to foreign investment attraction on a consistent basis while enhancing the efficiency and service of government agencies so as to create better environment for foreign investment. -- Gradually expanding the opening-up of service industrial and protecting in real earnest the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, treating each other as equals and providing mutual benefit in the course of common development. In today's world, she said, economic globalization has become a historical trend that is irresistible. "China is absorbing foreign capital as necessitated by its economic development, which also contributes to the international investment collaboration," Wu added. |
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