Foreign trade and investment are playing bigger roles in promoting China's national economy, with more than 70 million Chinese currently working in this area, he said at the annual MOFTEC working conference here.

More than 23 million Chinese now worked in overseas-funded enterprises, an increase of 5.5 million from 1997, he added.

According to Shi, China's foreign trade in 2001 accounted for 4.3 percent of world trade, ranking it 6th in global trade. In 1997 the rate was only 2.9 percent and China was the world's tenth biggest trading nation.

In 1997, China's foreign trade accounted for 36 percent of the gross domestic product, while in 2001, the proportion became 44 percent. The average annual proportion of foreign direct investment in fixed assets had exceeded 11 percent since 1998.

Foreign investment and foreign trade strongly promoted economic development, restructuring and industry upgrading, while increasing national revenue and creating jobs, the minister said.

China's foreign exchange reserves had reached US$274.6 billion, the second highest in the world, he said.

Up to 2001, China had attracted the largest amount of foreign investment among developing countries for nine consecutive years, he said. This year China expected actual foreign investment to exceed US$50 billion.

About 400 out of the world's top 500 business giants had come to China, he said, adding that high-tech, capital-intensive and service industries were luring more overseas funds.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2002)