Beijing will decentralize its control over smaller foreign-funded
projects to district and county governments, according to Zhou
Yinliang, spokesman for the Beijing Economic and Trade Commission.
The governments at district- and county-level in the Chinese
capital will be authorized to examine and approve contracts,
constitutions and their changes for foreign-funded enterprises
involving an investment of 30 million US dollars or less, as well
as to issue permits for the enterprises, Zhou revealed Wednesday in
Beijing.
"This is an important measure the city will take to further improve
its investment environment and its service efficiency," Zhou
explained.
"Starting from this month, a foreign investor may voluntarily apply
with either municipal authorities or district- or county-level
departments for the establishment or change of any business with
investment ranging from 10 to 30 million US dollars," he said.
Only foreign investment in areas where no restrictions are imposed
will be subject to the decentralization, Zhou said. Foreign-funded
projects that must be approved by authorities above the
provincial-level should continue to go through the existing
approval procedures.
"The Beijing Economic and Trade Commission will supervise
examination and approval by the district and county governments,"
Zhou said.
Over the past five years, Beijing approved the establishment of
nearly 5,000 foreign-funded projects, involving 18.95 billion US
dollars in contractual foreign capital, 10.32 billion dollars of
which was actually used, according to statistics.
By
the end of 2002, a total of 9,172 foreign-funded enterprises were
registered in Beijing, together with 8,028 foreign representative
offices. Twenty transnational corporations have setup headquarters
for their China operations in the city, and 160 Fortune 500s have
invested here.
Last year, Beijing approved 1,370 foreign-funded projects and used
5.03 billion US dollars in foreign capital, including 1.79 billion
dollars in direct foreign investment, up 25.3 percent and 1.4
percent respectively over the previous year, according to Beijing
Vice Mayor Zhang Mao.
The foreign capital used accounted for 23 percent of Beijing's
total investment in fixed assets last year, and the foreign-funded
enterprises contributed to 40.8 percent of the gross output value
of all industrial enterprises of scale in the city, Zhang said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2003)
