China is revising its national guidelines on foreign investment to allow the entry of more overseas companies into emerging industries and sectors that were previously considered as strategically important.

The revision will encourage foreign funds to invest in sectors such as aerospace, auto parts for new energy vehicles, recyclable water facilities and green battery production, the Economic Information Daily said yesterday.

The authorities will also soon map out a plan to promote more cooperation between international firms and their Chinese counterparts as well as encourage overseas enterprises to set up regional headquarters and research and development centers in the Chinese mainland, the report added.

China hopes to send a signal through the revised guidelines of its determination to tap foreign funds and expertise as it restructures the world's second largest economy.

Several ministries are now working together to revise the guidelines that were drawn in 2007, which will be released to the public by the end of this year, an unnamed official with the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, told the newspaper.

The Jiangxi provincial government has recently unveiled investment projects worth 130 billion yuan (US$20.06 billion) in Beijing to foreign investors, which cover energy, airlines, aerospace and non-ferrous metal industries.

China aims to help the emerging industries - to be developed in the next five years - grow an average 24.1 percent annually, according to Zhou Zixue, chief economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.