China Investment Corporate Ltd. (CIC), the country's long-awaited state forex investment company set up to make better use of its huge foreign exchange reserves, was inaugurated on Saturday.

The CIC, with a registered capital of US$200 billion, is a solely state-owned company, according to the company sources.

Lou Jiwei, current deputy secretary-general of the State Council, was appointed as the CIC's board chairman. Other board members include two executive directors Gao Xiqing and Zhang Hongli, five non-executive directors, Zhang Xiaoqiang, Li Yong, Fu Ziying, Liu Shiyu and Hu Xiaolian, one independent director Liu Zhongli and one director to be elected from the company's employees.

Gao Xiqing is now vice chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund. Zhang Hongli and Li Yong are vice finance ministers. Zhang Xiaoqiang is vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Fu Ziying assistant minister of commerce, Liu Shiyu central bank vice governor, Hu Xiaolian head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and Liu Zhongli former finance minister.

Gao Xiqing was also designated as the company's general manager, and Zhang Hongli, Yang Qingwei, Xie Ping and Wang Jianxi were appointed as deputy general managers.

Yang Qingwei is currently department head of fixed assets investment with the NDRC. Xie Ping is now the general manager of the Central Huijin Investment Corporation and Wang Jianxi a vice board chairman of the Central Huijin.

Hu Huaibang, Commissioner of Discipline Inspection with the China Banking Regulatory Commission, took the post as chief supervisor.

The company, to be operated in a completely commercial way despite its governmental backup, will mainly pursue combined investment in overseas financial markets.

"It will deal with its forex investment business independently by persisting in the principle of separating government functions from company management," the sources said.

The company will try to maximize the proceeds via long-term investments within a range of acceptable risks, said the sources.

At the end of August, China's Ministry of Finance announced it would use forex purchased with returns from a 600 billion-yuan (US$67.79 billion) special treasury bond sale to finance the CIC.

China's forex reserve had reached US$1.33 trillion by the end of June.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2007)