China international investment, trade fair opens in Xiamen

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 ◆ China international investment, trade fair opens in Xiamen

The four-day sixth China International Fair for Investment and Trade opened in this east China city on September 8.

More than 240 foreign economic groups and organizations as well as some 20 famous multinational companies including General Electric, Exxon Mobile and Motorola are attending the fair.

Besides exhibitions, 28 seminars and forums will be held concurrently with the fair.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) of China, the event has become one of China's most prestigious fairs to attract foreign investment and serves as a significant platform for cutting-edge information on hot investment issues.

Statistics show that companies from 98 countries and regions attended the previous fairs and signed more than 10,000 cooperative contracts with Chinese counterparts, backed by 56.5 billion US dollars of foreign investment.

2002 is the first year of China's entry into the World Trade Organization. The total foreign investment in the country is expected to reach 50 billion US dollars for the whole year. Statistics show that during the January-July period, China used foreign funds of 30.6 billion US dollars, up 20.7 percent over the same period of last year.

By the end of this July, China had approved 408,551 foreign-invested companies, backed by contractual foreign investment of 799.6 billion US dollars.