Fu Ziying, Vice Minister of Commerce, said at the 2007 Multinational Company Forum: Summit on Multinational Companies and China's Continuing Development held on February 6, that China would stick to its policy of opening up to the outside world. As part of this, it will continue to encourage the investment of foreign capital, focus on importing advanced technology as well as advanced management techniques and overseas intelligence to optimize the industry structure and the regional distribution. This will improve the quality of foreign capital absorbed as well as the amount.

Fu Ziying said that out of consideration of the sustainability of regions, resources and the environment, we must give full play to the nation's advantages and potential. We should improve the regional development policy and support the development of eastern coastal regions to help them make breakthroughs

At the same time, we should lower the threshold for foreign capital in certain industries in the central and western parts of China, guide the transfer of the processing trade from eastern to central and western areas, and promote re-investment by foreign and Chinese-funded enterprises in eastern regions to western and central regions. We must improve the interaction mechanism between regions, strengthen cooperation between old industrial bases in northeast China and other regions and strengthen cooperation and exchange between foreign investors and central and western regions.

"We welcome more multinational companies to invest in China, to help build China's new rural villages, to take part in the development of western China, and join China's strategy to rejuvenate the old north-eastern industrial bases," said Fu Ziying. He also emphasized that China's enterprises should be actively trying to expand abroad to accelerate the growth of China's multinational companies, in order to optimize global resources.

By People's Daily Online