Northeastern hub sees more foreign investors

Foreign investment continues to flood into Dalian this year, proving the port city in Liaoning province is one of the most attractive investment destinations in Northeast China.

According to the Dalian bureau of foreign trade and economic cooperation, more than 70 foreign-funded enterprises had been established in the city this year as of the end of May, with pledged investment amounting to $12.5 billion. The total amount invested in Dalian so far this year totaled $1.58 billion by May, increasing 4.39 percent from the same period of last year.

Renowned global information technology giant Intel is one of the biggest sources of investment, with newly added funding of $479 million in place to expand the capacity of its Dalian plant.

The newly added fund is part of its committed investment of $5.5 billion, announced in October last year, and will be used to upgrade its nonvolatile memory chip production facilities at its existing Dalian plant.

Non-volatile memory, or non-volatile storage, is a type of computer memory that can retrieve stored information even after having been turned off and back on.

Dalian is located at the southernmost end of the Liaodong Peninsula, at the conjunction of the Yellow Sea in the east and Bohai Bay in the west. It neighbors such countries as Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Russia.

With a land area of 13,000 square kilometers and a population of 6.9 million, the city is one of the shipping hubs in Northeast Asia and one of the most favored foreign investment destinations in Northeast China.

According to Liu Zhiguo, deputy chief of the Dalian bureau of foreign trade and economic cooperation, the city has approved about 18,000 foreign-invested enterprises in the past 30 years, with accumulated investment totaling $105.86 billion.

He said more than 4,600 foreign-invested enterprises are currently operational in Dalian, including those funded by renowned multinational companies such as British Telecom, Volkswagen, Total and Canon.

By the end of 2016, there were 262 projects funded by 113 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list.

Good environment

Dalian has a good environment, for which it has won the title of one of the 500 best cities in environment from the United Nations, the China Habitat Award and the title of one of the best tourism cities in China.

According to Lu Lin, deputy mayor of Dalian, the city has a batch of preferential policies to offer to investors.

The city enjoys incentives relating to the nation's strategy for revitalizing Northeast China. It is the core area of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Lu said Dalian is expected to pilot the Liaoning FTZ scheme in terms of financial globalization, trade facilitation and investment liberalization.

The city is also planning to develop a national-level innovation demonstration zone and a pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce.

"Dalian is on its way to becoming a regional shipping and logistics hub, and a hub for opening to Northeast Asia," Lu said.

The deputy mayor said such industries as shipping and logistics, finance, advanced manufacturing and high technology will be highlighted in the years to come and will also be prioritized for investment.

Dalian Port is an important foreign trade port in Northeast Asia. More than 70 percent of bulk cargo and more than 90 percent of container shipping business in Northeast China has been done through the port.

The port has connections with more than 300 ports around the world.

Dalian International Airport has 148 air routes to link domestic and foreign cities. It served 13.55 million passengers in 2016.

The city is also the foreign trade hub of Northeast China, with more than 21,000 companies and 700,000 people engaged in foreign trade business.

In the first four months of this year, Dalian's foreign trade value reached 136.49 billion yuan ($20 billion), growing 33.39 percent from the same period of last year.

Its exports amounted to 56.64 billion yuan, up 17.2 percent from a year ago. Its imports totaled 79.85 billion yuan, growing 47.83 percent year-on-year.

During the four-month period, Dalian's exports accounted for 57.6 percent of Liaoning's total and imports 64.2 percent.