East China's Shandong Province is expected to take up half of
the country's actual use of foreign capital from the Republic of
Korea (ROK) by the end of 2005, statistics of the local government
show.
By November last year, the actual use of ROK capital by Shandong
reached US$15.7 billion, according to the latest statistics of the
Shandong Provincial Department of Foreign Trade and Economic
Cooperation.
Hong Kong reported US$14.2 billion in actual use of ROK capital
so far, second to Shandong.
The ROK began its investment in Shandong in 1988 when only three
businesses were approved with a contractual capital of
approximately 4 million yuan (US$500,000).
Currently, 15 out of ROK's top 20 businesses, such as Daewoo,
Hyundai, Samsung, and LG, have invested in Shandong.
ROK's investment in Shandong surpassed that in Hong Kong for the
first time in 2001, and it has been the largest source of
Shandong's foreign capital ever since.
Statistics show that Shandong's actual use of ROK capital is
expected to account for 39 percent of the province's total actual
use of foreign capital at the end of 2005, while in 2001, the ratio
was just 17 percent.
ROK's investment in Shandong is changing from labor-intensive
industries to capital -and -technology-intensive industries and
covers various fields, such as finance, real estate and
navigation.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2006)