China Builds Industrial Park for European Investors (1)
BEIJING, January 18 (Xinhua) -- China began early this week to build an industrial park for European entrepreneurs in north China in a bid to offer better services to foreign investors.Located in Qinhuangdao, a port city 280 kilometers east of Beijing, the Euro-Industrial Park (EIP) is right at the center of the economic belt circling the Bohai Bay.
About 400 million people live in the area and the annual GDP of the region amounts to 480 billion U.S. dollars.
Shi Jianxin, director general of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Economy and Trade, said, "The EIP is a good choice for European investors who want to make profit in north China. On the other hand, it will also help Qinhuangdao to attract investment and optimize local industrial structure."
The EIP, jointly set up by the Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is expected to attract a total investment of 800 million U.S. dollars.
In the initial phase, the EIP will cover an area of four square kilometers, with an investment of 400 million yuan (US$48 million)in infrastructure facilities.
The EIP will take about 80 minutes to travel from Qinhuangdao to Beijing after an express railway linking Beijing and Shenyang, a key industrial base in northeast China, is completed by 2003.
The annual GDP within the area is forecast to reach US$1,000 billion in 2010. (more)