Wang Jinhua, vice-mayor of Suzhou City and director of the SIP administration, said Suzhou was confident of reaching the targets set last May by the two governments, including absorbing an accumulated 20 billion US dollars in contractual overseas investment and using half of them by 2004.

The targets also include a total investment of 10 billion US dollars in construction projects during 2002 and 2004, 50 billion yuan (six billion US dollars) in annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2004, and the completion of the infrastructure construction in the 70-square-kilometer park.

The park, which used to be vegetable-growing farmland until industrial development began on May 12, 1994, is located in the eastern suburbs of Suzhou, a tourist destination known as "the Venice of the Orient" because of its historic canal network.

To date, a total of 15.4 billion US dollars in contractual investment had been signed, involving about 410 overseas-funded enterprises, of which 170 were operational, thanks to close cooperation between the two governments, said the vice-mayor.

About 43 percent of the investment was directed into the electronics and information sector with considerable investment poured into high-tech sectors such as the biological and pharmaceutical industries, precision machinery and new materials. The vice-mayor said 42 of the world's 500 biggest multinationals had invested in the park.

Utilized overseas investment in the park has totaled 5.3 billion US dollars, and the GDP was expected to reach 25 billion yuan (three billion US dollars) this year, he said.

The park used about one billion US dollars in overseas actual investment out of the 4.5 billion US dollars in contractual overseas investment approved during the first 11 months of this year.

The 960-million-dollar investment by Philips Semiconductor (Suzhou) Co. was the single largest overseas-funded project approved this year, said the vice-mayor.

Michael Barbalas, general manager of the Andrew Telecommunications (Suzhou) Co., said the planning, infrastructure and environment of the park was world-class.

The vice-mayor attributed the sound planning and infrastructure development of the park to the experience Suzhou had drawn from Singapore.

Goh Toh Sim, vice-general manager of the Sino-Singaporean SIP Development Co. authorized to run the park and attract overseas investment, said his Chinese colleagues had almost grasped the expertise to attract overseas investment, urban development and public governance.

The vice-general manager said his Chinese colleagues had done a good job since the controlling shares of the company were transferred from the Singaporean side to their Chinese counterparts in 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2002)