In recent years, Zhejiang, one of the most developed provinces in China, has striven to create a first-class business environment with the least amount of approvals, highest work efficiency and freest investment environment in order to become the most favorable place for foreign companies.
Foreign investment in Zhejiang has gradually shifted from traditional manufacturing to modern services and high-tech manufacturing. Since 2013, the amount of foreign investment introduced to the service industry in Zhejiang has grown at an annual rate of 12.6 percent, the proportion of total investment increasing from 55.6 percent to 65.2 percent.
Unwaveringly sticking to the idea of high-quality development, Zhejiang is planning to implement the Four Major Constructions project, comprising Zhejiang Great Bay District, Grand Garden, Grand Passage and Metropolitan Area. The initiative will bring significant investment opportunities to foreign businesses.
In 2018, Hangzhou introduced 744 foreign-invested enterprises, with actual use of foreign capital of $6.827 billion, a growth of 3.28 percent year-on-year, and 224 foreign-invested projects with a total investment of more than $30 million.
575 foreign-invested enterprises were introduced in 2017, and the actual use of foreign capital was $6.61 billion. A total of 10 investment projects of the world's top 500 enterprises were settled to the city, and a total of 208 projects were invested by 120 Fortune 500 companies.
In the first half of 2018, Ningbo attracted 262 foreign-invested projects, increasing by 26 over the same period of the previous year, with a contracted foreign investment of $2.4 billion, an increase of 0.7 percent. The actual use of foreign capital reached $2.21 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2 percent.
Among the projects, 26 of them has an investment of more than $30 million, accounting for 9.9 percent of all the approved foreign investment of Ningbo.
From January to March 2019, 34 BRI countries established projects in Ningbo, an increase of 183.3 percent year-on-year, and the actual foreign investment reached $36.11 million.
By the end of November 2018, the foreign capital invested in Wenzhou reached $377 million, a year-on-year increase of 54 percent. 13 new projects with a total investment of more than $30 million were attracted to the city, including four projects with an investment of more than 100 million.
Three Fortune 500 companies, including Xinjiang Guanghui Industry, Yihai Kerry, SK Group, contributed nearly $100 million of investment to local industry, accounting for 25.5 percent of the city's total.
In 2018, Shaoxing City attracted a foreign capital of $1.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.0 percent. The total foreign investment and completion rate ranked fourth in the province.
13 major projects were introduced to the city, including the $929-million SMIC manufacturing project and $128-million Axilone M&A project.
Shaoxing is building an advanced intellectual infrastructure base in Hangzhou Bay. The base has four state-level development zones, seven provincial-level functional zones, and a broad investment platform.
In 2018, Jiaxing introduced 350 foreign investment projects, with a contractual foreign investment of $6.386 billion and an actual use of foreign capital of $3.14 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.19 percent.
The city has introduced nine projects of Fortune 500 enterprises, 10 international leading projects, 44 billion-dollar industrial projects, 15 functional institutions and multinational companies, as well as 57 overseas innovation teams and high-end talent projects.
The actual utilization of foreign capital in the secondary industry in the city accounted for 59.84 percent of the total, while the high-tech industry attracted a foreign capital of $470 million, of which high-tech service industry increased by 14.64 percent.
