Catalogue of foreign-invested industries to be published

Foreign investment in high energy consuming, heavily polluting and low-level production sectors will be further restricted, according to a catalogue of industries inviting and guiding foreign capital that is currently being revised.

The new Catalogue for the Encouragement of Foreign Investment Industries will be revised and circulated by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce in the first half of this year. The last changes to this document were made in 2004.

Jin Bosheng, the director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, said that the government is still actively encouraging foreign investment, but trying to optimize the industry structure. In the catalogue sectors are divided into three groups, where foreign investment is encouraged, restricted or forbidden.

Zhang Xiaoqiang, the deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission said that China will be guiding foreign investment into the production-oriented service industry and the modern service industry as well as to the mid-west and the old industry bases in the northeast. It will encourage foreign investors to invest in projects that combine research, manufacturing and sales, that have a high degree of locally-made components and limit high-energy consuming and heavily-polluting foreign projects in China.

By People's Daily Online