Yantai has become an investment hot spot for APEC member economies, with investment from 18 out of 20, except China, according to Yang Jinjing, mayor of the host city of the ongoing Second APEC Investment Mart.

The mayor said that the 18 APEC member economies have established 5,477 projects in Yantai, involving a contractual foreign investment of US$6.586 billion and an actual investment of US$4.629 billion, accounting for 94 percent, 85 percent and 86 percent of the city's total, respectively.

The trade value between Yantai and the APEC member economies stood at US$2.651 billion in 2000, an increase of 36 percent over the previous year, accounting for over 84 percent of the city's total foreign trade. The APEC member economies have become Yantai's major foreign trade partners.

The mayor said that Yantai has conducted various types of economic cooperation with more than 50 countries and regions. The city, so far, has approved the foreign-funded projects of 5,826, of which 1,900 have been put into production.

Yantai, in the eastern part of Shandong Peninsula facing Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, is one of China's first 14 coastal open cities. It hosted the Second APEC International Trade Mart in June 1997, 2nd APEC Small and Mid-size Enterprise Technology Exchange Mart in October 1998. The current Second APEC Investment Mart was opened on June 9 and will last through June 15.

(Peopel's Daily 06/13/2001)