Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said yesterday it will establish an Asian medical center in Shanghai as part of its plan to invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion) in China within three years.

Siemens Medical Solutions Group, a leading international medical solutions provider, will inject 300 million yuan into the health care manufacturing and research and development complex.

The project, called the Asia Center of Excellence, represents the first major foreign firm to move into the Nanhui District-based Shanghai International Medical Zone, China's largest medical park.

The center will focus on R&D, manufacturing, services and marketing for computerized tomography, X-ray, ultra-sound and other medical equipment.

"Our medical care businesses are growing here in China two to three times faster than the market is growing," said Klaus P. Stegemann, chief financial officer for Siemens Medical Solutions.

Construction at the center, a 30,000-square-meter facility designed to employ 1,000 workers when it opens in 2007, will begin next year, said Richard Hausmann, president and chief executive officer of Siemens China.

The German giant reported earlier that it plans to invest 10 billion yuan within three to five years in China.

"We have more than 10 projects in the discussion stage at the moment," the Siemans executive said.

(Shanghai Daily December 13, 2005)