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)