The Chinese capital of Beijing will strive to help cut costs for foreign investors in the city, especially in the manufacturing sector, Mayor Liu Qi said here Monday while meeting with the head of US mobile phone giant Motorola.
"This is one of our priorities in the near future," said Liu, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.
He told Mike Zafirovski, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Motorola, that his city would make the modern manufacturing industry a pillar of the local economy and the modern service industry a point of growth.
Noting that Beijing had kept improving its investment environment over recent years, he said the emphasis in the near future was placed on reducing costs for foreign investors, especially land costs in the manufacturing industry.
Meanwhile, he expressed the hope that more foreign investors would set up regional headquarters and research and development centers in Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2003)
