Japanese firms have accounted for one-third of the 139 multinational corporations of the world's top 500 investing in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, local statistics showed.

According to the Guangzhou Center for Promotion of International Investment, Japanese firms have launched 147 projects in the southern provincial capital since 2003, with contractual funds hitting 782 million US dollars.

Actual Japanese funds totaling 678 million US dollars have gone operational in the city since 2003, equivalent to the total 20-year-figure prior to 2003, the source added.

The trade volume between Guangzhou and Japan has witnessed double-digit growth since 2002, said Yuan Yueshuo, head of the Guangzhou Center for Promotion of International Investment.

Bilateral trade topped 5.97 billion US dollars in 2004. Guangzhou imported 4.52 billion US dollars worth of goods from Japan and saw increasing export of high-tech products to Japan, mainly the machinery and electronic products.

Guangzhou has experienced an average annual GDP growth rate of over 14 percent in the past 20 years, with per capita GDP on average reaching 6,800 US dollars.

Source: Xinhua