Southwest China's Yunnan Province will allow foreign businesses
to invest in some State- monopoly trades, such as mineral exploration.
Shao Qiwei, deputy
governor of the province, made the announcement Tuesday at
a meeting in this east China metropolis.
Foreign investors
will also be allowed to jointly develop rare bio-resources
in the province, which is known for its bio- diversity due
to its varied geographic and climatic conditions.
Shanghai-based
representatives of 127 businesses took part in the meeting,
including those from GE, GM, Citibank, Toshiba and Mitsui.
They were expected to negotiate with Yunnan Province later
this week on specific investment projects concerning electricity,
transportation and bio-resources.
Yunnan has so far
used 1.4 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment, or five
percent of all the foreign funds used by China.
The province hopes
to attract 2.7 billion yuan during the Tenth Five-Year Plan
period (2001-2005). It plans to build China's largest research
base for bio-resources, a research base for safe tobacco,
and the biggest export base for fresh flowers in Asia.
(People's Daily 04/25/2001)
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