One hundred and sixty co-operative projects between Yunnan and other areas were signed yesterday at the ongoing '99 China Kunming Export Commodities Fair.

The agreements involve 4.49 billion yuan (US$541 million), of which 2.16 billion yuan (US$261 million) come from 17 provinces, according to Shao Qiwei, vice-governor of Yunnan.

This success indicates that Yunnan has great potential to launch all kinds of economic projects, especially with the relatively developed coastal areas, Shao said.

Mao Yiqiang, deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Economic Co-ordination Office, said the projects mainly focus on combining Yunnan's abundant natural resources with the technological advantages of eastern areas.

The projects cover Yunnan's major promising industries such as tourism, bio-resources and medicine, Mao said.

Business people from various provinces are interested in taking part in Yunnan's thriving tourism undertakings. Kunming and Dali signed 19 tourism co-operative projects with partners from other provinces, for a total investment of 1.88 billion yuan (US$226.5 million), Mao said.

Yunnan also launched large-scale co-operation projects with other provinces to develop high-tech agriculture as well as ecological agriculture. Forty projects in this field, with investments of 460 million yuan (US$55.4 million), were signed yesterday.

Some powerful pharmaceutical enterprises from other provinces also showed a strong interest in Yunnan. Shanghai Fuxing High-tech Group will set up a company in Kunming to develop Yunnan's bio-medicine resources, Mao said.

Shenzhen-based Sanjiu Group signed a contract with Yunnan's Simao Prefecture to exploit a series of fungus products, he noted.

Yunnan's abundant mineral resources also attracted lots of investment. Three investors from Shanghai, Guangxi and Heilongjiang signed contracts with Lanping County Mining Industry Company to jointly develop the province's rich lead and zinc resources. The contracted capital totalled 200 million yuan (US$24.1 million), according to Zhang Jialin, director of the Lanping County Economic Co-ordination Office.

Lanping, located in the western part of Yunnan, boasts the second largest lead and zinc mine in the world. It is estimated to possess 2.45 million tons of lead and 11.83 million tons of zinc.

Mao said companies involved in other sectors are also actively participating in Yunnan's infrastructure construction. Six hundred million yuan (US$72.3 million) were invested to build a highway from Ruili to Nongdao in western Yunnan's Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture.

Investments of 320 million yuan (US$38.6 million) from outside Yunnan were introduced to exploit hydropower resources in northwest Yunnan's Lushui County.

According to Mao, Yunnan signed 126 co-operative projects with other provinces at the previous Kunming trade fair in 1998. To date, 86 per cent of the projects have been launched.

Yunnan has promoted another 189 key projects in order to gather more co-operative agreements with other provinces, Mao said.

(China Daily)