A total of 12 overseas enterprises, including tourism giant TUI Group from Germany, signed cooperation agreements on major projects within the free trade port in south China's Hainan Province on Thursday.

A total of 59 major projects, including 12 foreign-funded and 47 domestic ones, were agreed, covering tourism, the modern service industry and high-tech industries, with an estimated total investment of 14.2 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars).

A representative of TUI Group said the signing marks the tourism magnate's formal entry into the Hainan free trade port, adding that it will found an Asian-Pacific regional headquarters and joint venture here to further deepen its business relations with China and the Asian-Pacific region.

The signing ceremony also unveiled 20 investment-promotion projects that are open to global investors, in areas such as new-energy vehicles, tourism, offshore trade and duty-free retail.

On June 1, China released a master plan for constructing a free trade port on Hainan, a resort island with tourism as a mainstay industry, arousing interest both abroad and at home.

As increasing foreign companies come to invest, Hainan is making every effort to improve its business environment.

A "single window" for international investment was officially launched on Thursday, providing one-stop services for foreign investors, and shortening the duration of setting up foreign-invested companies to two working days.

The window integrates several e-government affairs systems, making more than 20 services available online at one time, including business registration, foreign investment and foreign exchange registrations, according to an official with the provincial commerce department.

Since its trial run last April, more than 700 foreign-funded enterprises have handled more than 1,150 investment-related businesses online through the "single window."