China's?economic clout will help its companies as they increase their outbound investment, participants told a forum yesterday in Shanghai.

"The world is set to see more investment from China by both state-owned enterprises and private companies," Xu Sitao, global forecasting director for China at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said at the Chinese Outbound Investment Event 2012.

"With China's gross domestic product per capita gradually approaching US$10,000, the scale of China's outbound investment is expected to reach US$200 billion by then," Xu said.

China became the world's sixth-biggest international investor last year with about 200 deals. According to the Ministry of Commerce, China's non-financial outbound direct investment grew 1.8 percent from a year earlier to US$60 billion last year, with Europe and Africa attracting a more than 50 percent surge in funds from China.

In the first three months of this year, China's ODI soared 94.5 percent to US$16.5 billion, indicating a greater enthusiasm among Chinese investors.

"Africa and Latin America are hot spots for Chinese investors right now," said Robin Bew, chief economist and editorial director at EIU. "But Western Europe and North America will become major destinations for Chinese funds eventually."

Bew also said Chinese companies need to do more public relations to allay fears and address doubts concerning their investment purpose.