Cooperation Between Yunnan, Japan Maintains Upward MomentumForeign trade and economic cooperation between Yunnan Province in southwest China and Japan has presented a good development momentum in recent years, reliable sources said.An official with the provincial government said that Yunnan has approved 64 Japanese-funded enterprises, involving a total investment of 458 million U.S. dollars and a contractual Japanese investment of 329 million U.S. dollars. The investment fields cover phosphate chemicals, telecommunications equipment, optical instrument, flowers and plants production, food processing and wooden products manufacturing. Statistics show that the trade volume between Yunnan and Japan has surpassed 120 million U.S. dollars annually in recent years. Yunnan's export commodities include yellow phosphorus, phosphate chemicals, agricultural and sideline products and textiles; Japan exports electrical power equipment to this southwest china province. It is learned that the air routes liking Kunming, the provincial capital, with Japanese cities has further promoted exchanges between the two sides. According to statistics, the number of Japanese visitors to Yunnan was 47,000 in 1996 and the number rose by 168 percent to reach 126,000 in 2000. Japan has become the largest overseas tourist source market for Yunnan. Meanwhile, the number of Yunnan people traveling to Japan is also on the rapid rise year by year. In recent years, the Japanese government has funded several programs in the province, which cover ethnic group education, grain production, environment protection and property elimination. Yunnan also used 68.3 billion Japanese yen (about 555 million U. S. dollars), a loan provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, to build railways, water supply facilities, optical fiber and chemical plant. |
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