Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, has been
adopting active measures to eliminate the negative impact caused by
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on local economy, striving
to keep losses at a minimum, said Mayor Zhang Guangning.
Guangzhou has been one of the worst hit areas by SARS, but thanks
to strenuous efforts made in the past months, the province has
successfully brought SARS under control and has recorded no new
SARS cases for a consecutive half month.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which had issued an advisory
against travel in Guangdong on April 2, lifted it on May 23.
The blow on the local economy, especially the service sector, has
been severe, but looking at the overall situation, SARS has not and
cannot halt the strong economic development momentum of this
southern Chinese city, said Zhang.
In
the first fourth months of the year, the city scored fast increases
in gross domestic product (GDP), fixed assets investment,
industrial production and exports, and saw improvement in economic
benefits.
The provincial capital on Tuesday launched a range of activities to
restore foreign investors' confidence in doing business in
Guangzhou which has been one of the most popular cities among
overseas investors.
In
the first four months, the city approved 293 new projects involving
foreign direct investment, up 49.5 percent from the same period
last year, and the contracts signed involved US$743 million of
overseas investment, up 5.2 percent.
The inflow of overseas investment into Guangzhou from January to
April was US$529 million, up 13.8 percent, and by April had reached
a total US$30.1 billion.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)