Asian-Pacific region most attractive for foreign investment

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued World Investment Report 2005 on Wednesday, pointing out that after three consecutive years of decline, global flows of foreign direct investment rebounded by a small margin, and the Asian-Pacific region is the most attractive for foreign direct investment, according to the People's Daily on September 30.

The report said global foreign direct investment in 2004 was 648 billion US dollars, up 2 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The three countries that attracted the most FDI were the United States with 96 billion US dollars, United Kingdom 78 billion USD and China's mainland with 60.6 USD, ranking the largest developing-country recipient. If adding Hong Kong region's inflows of 34 billion USD, the total inflow into China were 94.6 billion USD. The Asian-Pacific region has attracted the most foreign direct investment, reaching 148 billion USD.

The report pointed out that the surging FDI on R&D investment was an important change for foreign capital influx in developing countries. According to a survey by the UNCTAD, nearly 70 per cent of transnational companies said that they would raise research and development investment in foreign countries, and China's mainland would be their first choice, which will be followed by India, Republic of Korea, Singapore, China's Taipei and Thailand.

By People's Daily Online