Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai vowed Friday at the ministry's national conference that next year China will make a better use of foreign capital to help upgrade industrial structure and technological innovation.

According to Bo, China will boost the foreign investment in sectors of high-tech, advanced manufacturing, service, modern agriculture and environmental protection.

The minister said that foreign-funded companies are encouraged to strengthen the use of local raw materials and machinery parts, adding that foreign companies are also welcomed to establish regional headquarters, research, development and training centers in China.

According to the research conducted by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the latest growth of foreign direct investment has two features. One is that manufacture, research and development process with high technological weight and added-value will gradually transfer from the United States, Japan and EU to elsewhere regions; the other is that the growth momentum of outsourcing business will be transferred from manufacture industry to the service.

China now is working hard to formulate a strategy and policy on service outsourcing companies and will set up trial bases at home and select promising companies in the sector to go abroad, Bo said.

Statistics from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development show that the total value of the world outsourcing business is expected to reach 300 billion US dollars this year, and the organization predicted that the growth would continue at a speed of 30 to 40 percent annually and soar to 585 billion US dollars next year and 1.2 trillion in 2007.

Source: Xinhua