Mrs. Barbara Duke ,

Ladies & gentlemen ,

Let me first of all thank you , Mrs. Barbara Duke, for your kind words about me. I also want to express my deep gratitude to the Canadian Club of Winnipeg for hosting this luncheon for me and to many companies and business organizations for the honor of your presence here today . This is my first trip to Manitoba since I began my present tour of duty as Chinese Ambassador to Canada , and both my wife and I are very grateful for the wonderful welcome and hospitality you have shown us . I wish to say that wherever we travelled in this country--and we have been to many provinces and cities since we came--we were all deeply impressed by the tremendous amount of good will the Canadian people have for China and by their mounting support for a strong relationship between our two countries. We in China have the same desire to expand our ties ,especially with this province which produces not only most of the wheat and canola oil China imports from this country but also great politicians and friends like the current Speaker of the Senate, His Honorable Gildas Molgat and parliamentary secretary Mr. Reg Alcock.

Today , I will cover briefly the following aspects which I think will be helpful for you to understand more profoundly China’s economic state and investment environment, so as to facilitate your future involvement in China. They are : China’s economic situation , the strategy of developing the west initiated by Chinese government , as well as the Sino-Canadian trade and economic cooperation .

The year of 1999 witnessed a sustained and rapid growth of China’s national economy with its GDP reaching 100.2 billion USD , up by 7.1% over the previous year . Export made a turn for the better with the total volume of foreign trade amounting to 360.7 billion USD , increased by 11.3%. In 1999, foreign investment in China did well with a paid-in capital of 40.4 billion USD.

The year of 1999 is a year when China dramatically paced up its process of WTO entry by making significant breakthrough in its WTO bilateral negotiations . On Nov. 15th , last year, the Sino-U.S. bilateral negotiation on China’s accession to WTO was wrapped up with a win-win agreement .It not only meets the fundamental interests of the two sides, but also assist the development of the world trade at large . On Nov.26th, at the invitation of Mr.Pettigrew , the Minister for International Trade , Minister SHI Guangsheng for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation visited Canada and attended the annual meeting of Canada-China Business Council in Toronto . More than that , his visit sealed the Sino-Canadian bilateral agreement on China’s accession to WTO. It will boost further the bilateral trade and economic cooperation .

From then on , bilateral negotiations for China’s WTO membership have been greatly accelerated. Up to now, we have concluded bilateral talks and signed agreements with nearly all those member countries which asked for WTO talks with China. In addition , the Ninth Session of WTO Working Party on China held in Geneva in late March marked the formal commencement of the multilateral process for China WTO membership.

China is a responsible country . Once inside WTO , China will abide by WTO rules in real earnest . We have started to prepare ourselves. On the one hand , we are popularizing the WTO knowledge among economic officials and business community , while on the other hand , we are reviewing the existing laws and regulations under the unified leadership of the State Council . We will make our laws and regulations consistent with the WTO rules . This is a hard process , demanding the inputs of time and human resources . But the government has the confidence and determination to fulfill what it has committed .

Presently , the Chinese government has taken another strategic move, that is to develop the west of China , aiming at narrowing differences between west and east , and promoting sustainable, sound and rapid development of the whole national economy . We will enlarge our inputs in capacity construction in the west and central part of China and endow that part with more preferential policies , in a hope to expand the openness , better investment environment and channel more capital and technology into that area.

The central and western area actually boasts many comparative advantages. Firstly , it has rich natural resources , such as energy , minerals ,tourism and land . For instance , 120 out the 140 deposit-proven minerals in the country have been found in that area , with the deposit of some rare metals ranking high in the country or even the world . Secondly , it enjoys enormous market potentials . With one quarter of the national population , this area has the full capacity to become a huge market for products and services . Thirdly , the opening-up , foreign trade and economic practice in the coastal area have provided very precious experience for the central and western part in constantly improving and perfecting the environment and condition of foreign trade . Thus , the opening-up and economic development of the central and western area can be realized with less delay in time and less waste in resources . Fourthly , the comprehensive national strength of China has been enhanced by a large margin after 21 years’ rapid development . The state now has the capability to give more support to the development of the west , in the context when the east has accumulated certain strength and the west has almost got rid of poverty .

However , the large-scaled construction in the central and western region can not be realized by ourselves alone . It requires vigorous involvement of foreign fund. That is why foreign investment utilization is taken as a significant component in the open-up process of the west . The state will incept more incentives to promote the foreign investment in the west . At present , major incentives are as follows :