Lender support for industrial chain expansion

The Foshan Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau recently signed an agreement with six banks for credit support to new investment projects.

According to the agreement, the six banks - the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank - will jointly lend up to 50 billion yuan ($8 billion) over three years, most of which will be earmarked for projects that improve the city's industrial chain, with a priority given to international companies.

The agreement marks a new attempt by the bureau to carry out its strategy to strengthen various industries .

"We're keeping a close eye on potential investments that will help to build, supplement and fortify our industrial chains, so the financing is a plus for all our endeavors," noted Zhou Zhitong, director-general of the municipal foreign trade and economic cooperation bureau.

The focus will be on strategic growth industries including new-generation information technology, new energy and biomedicine.

Those to be supplemented include semi-conductor lighting, flat panel displays and automobiles. Other sectors that will be strengthened include traditional equipment manufacturing, household appliances and new materials.

The new investment strategy aims to drive the city to be the leading manufacturing hub in South China's Guangdong province by 2015, the last year of the nation's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), said Zhou.

"It works and we saw an increase of capital inflow in the first three quarters of this year amidst the economic doldrums globally," the official said.

The city had 117 new projects with contractual foreign direct investments totaling $2.52 billion from January to September, a year-on-year surge of 123 percent, according to city statistics.

Committed investment was worth $2.01 billion in the nine months, an increase of 29.2 percent.

Investments came from Europe and the United States in addition to Hong Kong and Japan, long the city's key investment sources.

"We are negotiating on several other massive projects and many of the investors have strong interest in the business opportunities here," he said, without disclosing details.

The official said that his bureau will set up overseas representative offices in developed countries and regions for the promotion of Foshan's investment climate and will continue to promote the city's investment opportunities home and abroad.

The city held a promotional campaign in Shanghai in May and another in Shenzhen in September.

It signed deals worth 20.57 billion yuan in capital for 13 projects during the event in Shanghai and 23.16 billion yuan for 21 projects in Shenzhen.

A promotion in Munich, Germany in October attracted 130 senior executives and representatives from Germany and other European countries in industries including new energy, electric automobiles and auto components, medical equipment, biomedicine, machinery, environmental protection and new materials.

Foshan attracted $3.26 billion worth of contractual foreign capital in 2011, an increase of 48.8 percent from 2010. The actual investment hit $2.15 billion last year, up 9.5 percent from a year ago, official statistics indicate.

More than 7,300 foreign-funded enterprises had operations in the city by late 2011 ranging from machinery and equipment manufacturing to telecom equipment, metal processing, and foods and beverages.

zhanlisheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/09/2012 page24)