Govt watch

Overseas projects up

China's overseas contractual projects stood at $7.96 billion in the first two months of 2009, up 24.8 percent year-on-year despite the world economic downturn, said the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry said many companies expanded their target markets from the European Union and the United States to developing countries in Africa and Latin America. Also, many companies shifted from labor-intensive sectors to technology-intensive industries, such as electric power, oil refining, telecommunications and metallurgy.