XIAMEN,
Sept. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The four-day sixth China
International Fair for Investment and Trade
opened in this east China city Sunday.
More than 240 foreign economic groups and organizations
as well as some 20 famous multinational companies
including General Electric, Exxon Mobile and
Motorola are attending the fair.
Besides exhibitions, 28 seminars and forums
will be held concurrently with the fair.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) of China, the
event has become one of China'smost prestigious
fairs to attract foreign investment and serves
as a significant platform for cutting-edge information
on hot investment issues.
Statistics show that companies from 98 countries
and regions attended the previous fairs and
signed more than 10,000 cooperative contracts
with Chinese counterparts, backed by 56.5 billion
US dollars of foreign investment.
2002 is the first year of China's entry into
the World Trade Organization. The total foreign
investment in the country is expected to reach
50 billion US dollars for the whole year. Statistics
show that during the January-July period, China
used foreign funds of 30.6 billion US dollars,
up 20.7 percent over the same period of last
year.
By the end of this July, China had approved
408,551 foreign-invested companies, backed by
contractual foreign investment of 799.6 billion
US dollars.