Second APEC Investment Mart to Be Held in YantaiThe second Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Investment Mart will be held in Yantai, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, from June 9 to 15.This was announced Friday at a press conference chaired by Long Yongtu, vice-director of the mart's steering committee and chief negotiator of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). Long said this year's investment mart, co-sponsored by MOFTEC and the Shandong provincial government, carries the theme of " investing in the Asia Pacific, investing in the future." It aims to demonstrate the investment policies, business opportunities and environment, promote international exchanges and cooperation, and accelerate the development of the regional economy. While each APEC member economy will have the opportunity to present itself on this occasion, the mart will also provide opportunities for bilateral and multilateral talks among the APEC members to establish direct contacts and expand cooperation in diverse sectors including electronics, information technology, bio- engineering, agriculture, marine resources, environment protection, energy saving, telecommunications and infrastructure. The mart will consist of an APEC CEO forum, during which CEOs from financial institutions and APEC transnational corporations as well as Chinese government officials and trade ministers from other APEC member economies will give speeches on diverse topics including economic globalization, science and technology, informationalization and bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the mart will provide 1,000 exhibition booths to display the business environment, policies and opportunities of APEC members as well as the highlights of APEC enterprises. Participants at the mart will include government officials, investment promotion agencies, financial institutions, transnational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises from the APEC member economies as well as experts from the investment and trade sectors. Vice-governor of Shandong Province Lin Shuxiang and mayor of Yantai Yang Jinjing were also present at Friday's press conference. The decision for China to host the second APEC investment mart was made during the 11th APEC ministerial-level meeting in September 1999. The first APEC investment mart was held in Seoul, capital of the Republic of Korea, in June 1999. |
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