Overseas Investment in China to Hit New High: OfficialDespite uncertainties in the world economy at present, overseas investment in China has kept rising and is expected to hit a new record this year, according to an official with the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC).Zhang Guobao, vice minister in charge of the SDPC, made the remark here Tuesday at a press conference sponsored by the China Secretariat for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2001. He said that actual overseas investment in the country between January and September totaled 32.2 billion U.S. dollars, the highest for the period since 1996. The official attributed the increase in overseas investment to a sustainable and steady growth of the Chinese economy and the country's political and social stability, adding these factors are attractive to overseas investors. According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, China approved 18,585 overseas-funded projects in the January-September period, 18.14 percent higher than in the same period of last year. Contractual overseas investment for the first nine months reached 49.347 billion U.S. dollars, up 30.35 percent, and actual overseas investment 32.196 billion U.S. dollars, up 20.66 percent. By the end of September, China had established a cumulative total of 383,000 overseas-funded enterprises, involving a combined contractual overseas investment of 726.066 billion U.S. dollars and actual overseas investment of 380.82 billion U.S. dollars. |
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