China's global poll position pulling in foreign investment needs reinforcing. And key to that is greater sophistication and coordination on the part of investment promotion organizations, said a senior official.

"Investment promotion activities are increasingly important given that more countries are competing for foreign investment and fresh opportunities emerge in the new round of global industrial restructuring," Liu Yajun, director of the Executive Bureau of Investment Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, told China Daily recently.

China has developed a complete investment promotion system over the past 25 years as specialists in the field have been established in the majority of mainland cities, said Liu.

But many of the organizations have failed to adopt modern methods likely to attract foreign investment, he noted.

"We should establish a professional, efficient and multi-tier investment promotion network by taking full advantage of all resources," said Liu.

Organizations are advised to provide one-stop services to not only the potential investors, but also those with an established presence in China.

Diversifying their services to incorporate the seven major functions of image building, project recommendation, match-making, consultation, research, government-enterprise relations and industrial regulation is recommended.

Liu urged organizations to pool resources to provide high quality services, such as 24-hour online services, forums and fairs and efficient coordination systems in co-operation with related government departments to deal with complaints from overseas-funded firms. Outlining uniform guidelines, in a bid to standardize the work of investment promotion bodies around the country, would also work to their advantage, said Liu.

The Executive Bureau of Investment Promotion intends to invite leading figures from relevant international organizations, overseas and domestic investment promotion organizations and research institutes to train employees of local investment promotion bodies.

Current ones evolved out of the former Services Centres for Foreign Investors in the mid-1980s. They were set up in many Chinese cities to assist would-be overseas investors in handling procedures involved when seeking to set up a business in China.

In August 2001, China International Investment Promotion Center was founded with the support of the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now the Ministry of Commerce).

In March 2002, advocated by the China International Investment Promotion Center and other 15 investment promotion bodies, a national joint meeting was held.

One year later, the Ministry of Commerce officially set up the Executive Bureau of Investment Promotion.

And although the total amount of direct foreign investment has shrunk dramatically since 2000, China has maintained stable growth in this area.

Foreign investment in China totaled some US$52.7 billion in 2002, rising 1.4 percent to US$53.5 billion last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

This favorable situation has continued in 2004 maintaining China's position as one of the hottest areas for investment in the world, said Liu.

(China Daily September 8, 2004)