The Chinese capital of Beijing is seeking investment from Japanese enterprises in a wide range of fields including infrastructure construction and projects for the 2008 Olympic games.

Zhang Jifu, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau, said at a press conference Monday in Tokyo that an investment fair for Japanese enterprises, slated for Oct. 20 to 21 in Beijing, will trigger a new round of investment surges between the two sides.

The "Japanese Enterprises' Beijing Investment Fair," the first of its kind, will be sponsored by commercial, industrial and investment bureaus under the Beijing municipal government, and some Sino-Japanese economic and trade promotion organizations.

The fair will provide a platform for Japanese enterprises to enter the Beijing market, which is large in both investment and return, said Zhang, who is heading a delegation of the fair organizers on a visit to Japan.

"It is the first two-way investment fair between Beijing and a foreign country directly," Zhang said, adding that from next year on, the Beijing municipal government will make plans on more of such fairs with a dozen of countries and regions such as Germany, the United States and South Korea.

According to the official, Japanese investment in Beijing totaled 3 billion US dollars in 2003, ranking second among the city's foreign investment.

In the coming years, the biggest business opportunities for Japanese firms lie in the participation of infrastructure and commercial projects related to the 2008 Beijing Olympics projects, such as subway construction, taxi upgrade technology and portable TV sets, Zhang said.

Besides the Olympics projects, Beijing is also looking for cooperation with Japanese investors in the fields of medical instruments, robot development, software research, professional training and automobile high-tech, he added.

During the two-day fair, participants of the two sides will be provided with a series of activities such as information exchange, trade talks, visits to local firms and technological seminars.