(Yicai) March 19 -- China has released the ninth batch of major foreign-funded projects, with a total investment amount of USD13.4 billion.

The 13 projects unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission are mainly in the manufacturing sector, such as electronic manufacturing, chemical engineering, automobiles, and electrical machinery, promoting the accelerated development of industrial clusters. Logistics projects were included for the first time to hike support for the service industry.

These major foreign-funded projects feature substantial investment amounts, strong industrial driving force, and prominent technological leadership. The ones approved so far have a total investment amount of USD108 billion, demonstrating a significant exemplary and driving effect in attracting foreign investment.

More research and development center projects in fields such as biomedicine were also approved, sending out a positive signal that China is stepping up support for the service industry and promoting the in-depth integration of the modern service industry and advanced manufacturing.

The foreign enterprises investing in these projects include multinational corporations from countries such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.

China will keep increasing the input of the working group dedicated to major foreign-funded projects, fully carry out project tracking, continuously conduct special actions to serve such projects, listen to the demands of enterprises, and coordinate to solve practical problems, according to an NDRC official.

This year’s government work report stated that China will expand two-way investment cooperation, deepen the reform of the foreign investment promotion system and mechanism, ensure that foreign enterprises enjoy national treatment, implement the new version of the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries, promote reinvestment and production capacity expansions by overseas firms within China, enhance services and support for foreign companies, and build up the ‘Invest in China’ brand.

China still holds strong appeal for foreign investment, not only because of its huge market and complete and efficient industrial and supply chains, but also because it has gradually moved to top positions in many scientific and technological innovation fields, said Wan Zhe, researcher at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University.

These factors, coupled with the country’s abundant talent reserves and teams and high-level institutional opening-up, make China very appealing for various high-end industries, Wan noted.

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, many sectors, including manufacturing, have achieved a high degree of openness, while the service industry still has huge growth potential, Bai Ming, member of the academic committee of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, told Yicai.

China needs to make up for its shortcomings, open up its service industry to the world, and gradually grow into one of the best, which requires not only expanding the scope but also increasing the quality of opening-up, Bai explained.

The service sector is the core focus of institutional opening-up, said Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank. To expand two-way investment cooperation, it is necessary to stabilize foreign investment, ensure the national treatment to overseas enterprises, build up the ‘Invest in China’ brand, and guide the reasonable and orderly cross-border layout of industrial and supply chains, he added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione