The Pudong District of Shanghai has attracted US$39.2 billion in overseas investment over the past 12 years, about one third of Shanghai's total overseas investments.
Zhou Yupeng, vice-mayor of Shanghai, the biggest business and industrial center on the Chinese mainland, said overseas investment and investors are essential to the success of Pudong.
Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore are some of the 78 countries and regions investing in the area.
Official statistics show overseas-funded enterprises have been the driving force behind the rapid economic development of Pudong.
Overseas-funded firms account for 30 percent of the district's gross domestic product (GDP), half of its fiscal revenue and export, and nearly 80 percent of the output of high-tech products.
Overall exports by overseas-funded enterprises have been growing at an average 53 percent annually since 1993.
Pudong, which was farmland 12 years ago, exported products worth US$5.6 billion last year.
In 1990 China announced the establishment of the Pudong Development Area in eastern Shanghai, a move designed to speed up economic development of Shanghai and other part of the Yangtze River valley.
(People's Daily June 13, 2002)
