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China has made significant progress in attracting foreign investment, said Shi Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

At the opening of the 2002 International Investment Forum in Xiamen on September 8, the minister said in the first seven months of this year, 18,526 new foreign-invested enterprises were approved in the country, up 31.8 percent; the contractual foreign capital topped 54.35 billion US dollars, up 31.8 percent; and the actually utilized foreign capital reached 29.54 billion dollars, up 22 percent.

By the end of July 2002, a cumulative total of 408,551 foreign-invested enterprises had been approved nationwide, the contractual foreign capital totaled 799.65 billion dollars, and the actually utilized foreign capital reached 424.77 billion dollars.

He said that increase of foreign investment and the gradual promotion of external investment are an important channel for China to further enhance its comprehensive competitiveness. He cited a World Investment Report released by the UNCTAD, that of all developing countries and regions, China has been the largest recipient of foreign investment for the past nine consecutive years.

To date, more than 400 of the world's top 500 companies have launched operations in China, and over 200 of them have set up research and development organizations.