Foreign-funded enterprises have recorded more than 200 billion U.S. dollars in post-tax profits in China since the 1990s, a senior Chinese commerce official said.

Li Zhiqun, director of Foreign Investment Department of Ministry of Commerce, announced the figures on Saturday at a forum of "Investing in Xi'an, Investing in Future", held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Currently, China has approved the establishment of over 500,000 foreign-financed enterprises and has used 270 billion U.S. dollars of foreign funds. These foreign-funded enterprises import over 560 billion U.S. dollars of goods annually.

To date, corporations from 190 countries and regions worldwide have invested in China, including 450 of the Fortune global top 500 multinational corporations. Foreign investors have established more than 700 research and development centers in China and over 40 multinational corporations have set up regional headquarters in the country, Li said.

Li said economic globalization stimulated economic growth in China and has brought increasing opportunities to foreign investors.

Li said, Chinese economy grew by an average 9.6 percent annually during the 1978-2005 period. According to the World Bank estimates, China's economic growth during the 2000-2004 period contributed average 14.3 percent annually to the world economic growth during the same period, ranking the second in the world.

China's economic growth attracted the attention of increasing number of foreign investors, who have invested in the traditional industrial and manufacturing sectors and also in new areas such as trade services, infrastructure construction in rural areas and high technologies, among others.

By the end of last year, foreign-funded enterprises in China had employed over 24 million local people.

China has established a legal system serving foreign trade and economic cooperation, which adapts to the demand of China's building of a socialist market economy and the rules of the World Trade Organization, Li said.

China would continue to create a better investment environment for foreign investors and encourage foreign investors to pour more funds into the high-tech sector in the future, Li said.

Source: Xinhua