Beijing to Improve Investment EnvironmentBeijing Mayor Liu Qi vowed in Beijing Friday to create in this capital a first-class-level investment environment in line with international standards.With China's impending entry into the World Trade Organization, it has become imperative for Beijing to create a fair and standardized investing climate, especially to improve the service quality, said Liu at a municipal meeting on foreign investment. To this end, Beijing will further enhance civil servants' consciousness of serving enterprises, regulate the market through the rule of law, and set up more service facilities like international schools, residential buildings and medical centers for foreigners. Liu suggested that Beijing's absorption of foreign funds will be closely connected with its adjustment of the economic order and the preparation for the 2008 Olympics. It is learned that in the first seven months of this year, Beijing approved 631 foreign-financed enterprises and actually used a total US$1.54 billion of foreign capital. By the end of July, Beijing had approved a total of 16,513 foreign-financed enterprises, involving a contractual investment of US$33.89 billion, among which 23.14 billion have been put into use. Beijing's top investment source is Hong Kong and those immediately following are the United States and the European Union. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |