China's "going abroad" strategy has been progressing steadily since the beginning of this year, despite a sustained impact from the international financial crisis, according to the Ministry of Commerce. In particular, overseas contracted projects have maintained a trend of rapid growth; with the number of newly contracted large projects continuing to increase and a continuous development in their technical content, this has become a major bright spot in China's foreign economic activities.
According to the latest statistics, in the first four months of this year China realized 17.94 billion USD in business revenue from overseas contracted projects, and newly-signed contracts in the period reached 44.55 billion USD in value, a respective 36 percent and 59.5 percent increase compared with the same period last year. In April in particular, 5.51 billion USD in business revenue was realized, and the value of newly signed contracts reached 11 billion USD, representing a respective 45 percent and 64.2 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
The number of large contracted projects continuously increased in this period; specifically, there were 135 contracted projects with a contract value of 50 million USD and above, 36 more than in the same period last year, the aggregate value of which stood at 36.72 billion USD, accounting for 82.4 percent of the total amount of all newly signed contracts. As for the distribution of contracts within specific industries, newly signed contracts were mainly concentrated in industries related to petrochemicals, communications and transportation, electric power, building construction, processing and manufacturing.
In the first quarter this year, China's foreign labor service cooperation realized 2.01 billion USD in business revenue, a 10.4 percent increase year-on-year. 75,700 people were sent overseas in a variety of employment capacities, an increase of 2,200 compared with the same period last year. Under the impact of the international financial crisis, the number of people engaging in labor service cooperation overseas has somewhat decreased, but as the number of overseas contracted projects rapidly increases, labor exports are expected to maintain growth.
Relevant authorities have adopted a series of measures to encourage enterprises to seize the opportunity to "go abroad". By releasing "Measures for Overseas Investment Management," the Ministry of Commerce has decentralized foreign investment approval authority, and simplified approval procedures, thereby further activating the decision-making power of enterprises in their investment efforts.
According to preliminary statistics, in 2008 China's overseas contracted projects led to more than 30 billion USD in exports of China-made equipment and 200,000 people in the overseas labor; Chinese-funded enterprises overseas also realized 130 billion USD in imports and exports.
By People's Daily Online
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article