Though it is already late autumn, there is no cool-down in the heat of investment made in Xinjiang by businessmen from the inland since the beginning of summer. While a huge Wenzhou business group is still engaged in talks in various ports of the region about intention of cooperation, 300-odd outstanding entrepreneurs from privately run businesses organized delegations to go north and south of Tianshan Mountains to seek business opportunities. According to statistics released by the Economic Cooperation Office of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjing had attracted a total of 26.115 billion yuan from other provinces and autonomous regions by the end of September, up 42.65 percent year on year.

Against the background of tightened macro-control done at order of the central government, some farsighted entrepreneurs in east and central China have shifted their strategic direction to Xinjiang, thus quickening the pace of pitching into the large-scale development of the western region. For instance, Changhong Group entered Yili; Hisense Group signed a contract in Kashi; Wangwang Group broke ground for construction of new plants in Shihezi; and Guangming (Bright) Dairy & Food Company opened a branch in Hejing City tucked away in the folded Tianshan Mountain ridge.

In the face of the entry of enterprises from east and central China, government departments at various levels in the region have gone all out to create an excellent environment to befriend, benefit and stabilize the businessmen from outside. From the beginning of this year, discipline inspection commission and supervision departments have conducted all-round supervision over the working procedure, efficiency and service attitude of functional departments in their invitation of investment. Meanwhile, the Urumqi economic and technological development zone has also timely instituted rules and regulations, under which local personnel, while receiving clients, should inform the investors of all the relevant rules, regulations and formalities at one go, and the functional departments should accompany investors to the competent departments at or above the city level to perform necessary formalities.

In the face of business opportunities, it is not that what Xinjiang "gains in its basket are all vegetables". The autonomous region government puts forward the idea of "green investment", calling attention to the optimization of projects, preventing low-level redundant construction, guarding against contaminating enterprises from taking advantage of the opportunity to advance westwards. The local government is determined not to pursue economic benefits at the price of the ecological environment. Meanwhile, it integrates the invitation of investment with attracting intellectual resources. For example, Tsinghua University has built the Tongfang Sci-Tech Park in Xinjiang.

Deputy director of Xinjiang Econonic Cooperation Office said that the entry of many enterprises from east and central China has given full play to Xinjiang's resources advantage. Currently, another group of large projects have fully started: including a 1.5-million-ton poor-quality oil reconstruction and expansion project of 1.1 billion yuan investment made by Tarim Oil&Gas Chemical Co., Ltd.; 300,000-ton synthetic ammonia project of 1.06 billion yuan investment by Liaoning Huajin Chemical Corporation as well as the project of Ehoblak Coalmine of 250 million yuan invested by Xuzhou Mining Group?all have been progressing smoothly.

The march into Xinjiang has also given full play to the advantages of enterprises from east and central China. "The timely transfer of the resources- and labor-intensive industries to China's central and western regions can make them enjoy national and local preferential policies, and effectively control the cost and enlarge the market," said a businessman from Zhongshan City, south China's Guangdong province.

China's east and west regions can get their due by complementing each other. All the stalls in the "Locomotive Trade Center" invested by Zhejiang businessmen were reserved by more than 800 enterprises in less than two months after its opening to business. Eastern and western enterprises�f positive chain effect on Xinjing's economy has been perceptible. The total output value of Xinjiang Autonomous Region exceeded 70 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, with its growth standing at 3.2 percentage points higher than the national level.

By People's Daily Online