An honest, open and user-friendly business climate is essential for drawing more foreign investment, said Zhang Guoguang, governor of Central China's Hubei Province.
"Preferential policies are not so attractive as an improved business environment when it comes to the introduction of foreign capital," Zhang said in Wuhan on March 27.
Foreign investors pay more attention to a local government's working efficiency and their service quality, he said.
The province adopted a number of measures last year to simplify investment procedures and strengthen supervision over market illegalities, leading to an increase of 42 percent to US$2.017 billion of foreign investment in 2001.
This year, the province wishes to draw US$2.2 billion to boost its local economy.
By the end of 2001, a total of 8,461 joint venture companies were approved in Hubei with a total investment value of around US$10.59 billion.
(China Daily March 29, 2002)
