Shanghai to Allow Foreign Investment in Service SectorChina's leading economic center Shanghai plans to attract foreign investment to the service sector rather than industry, said the city mayor, Xu Kuangdi.At a meeting on overseas investment held here Friday, the mayor said that service fields such as finance, trade, transportation, legal counseling and accounting, tourism and consulting will be opened to overseas investors. In such non-profitable fields of education, culture and public health, cooperation and joint- ventures are expected, according to the mayor. Along with capital, technology, management expertise and professionals are expected to be introduced, he said. Meanwhile, the city will allow foreigners to make investments in more diversified ways rather than relying on preferential policies alone. The city will make investment procedures more transparent and efficient, Xu said. Statistics show that by the end of this July, Shanghai had approved 23,700 overseas funded projects involving 4.99 billion U. S. dollars. The output and exports of foreign invested enterprises account for more than half of the city's total and their employees make up 30 percent of the city's labor force. |
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