| China, Singapore Mark 15th Anniversary of Largest Joint Project |
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| Wednesday,May 27,2009 Posted: 16:33 BJT(0833 GMT) |
| From:Xinhua Article type:Reproduced |
China and Singapore celebrated the 15th anniversary Tuesday of their largest cooperative project, the Suzhou Industrial Park, in east China's Jiangsu Province.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan attended the commemoration together with Singaporean Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.
Calling the park a product of friendly cooperation, Wang said it had become an important window for China's opening up.
Founded in February 1994, the park lies in the center of the Yangtze River Delta and at the juncture of China's coastal economic open areas.
Its chief industries include electronics, bio-pharmaceuticals and new materials, which account for 75 percent of its gross output.
Over the past 15 years, the park maintained an average annual economic growth of 30 percent, paid more than 100 billion yuan (14.6 billion U.S. dollars) in taxes and utilized foreign funds of nearly 16 billion U.S. dollars.
Currently, the park has more than 12,000 companies, including more than 3,000 foreign enterprises.
Singapore "ignited" the engine of the Suzhou Industrial Park, but it was the Chinese government who had made it run in an active way, Lee said.
Lee said the park served as a platform for Singapore and China to share economic development experience.
An eco-city in the northern metropolis of Tianjin -- another cooperation project between China and Singapore -- started construction last September.
The eco-city, 40 km from downtown Tianjin and 150 km from Beijing, will be guided by Singapore's use of solar and wind power and rain recycling technologies. Singapore will also share with Tianjin its expertise on waste water treatment and desalination.
Vice Premier Wang said the global downturn had posed severe challenges to China's economy, but the government's responses had started to have an effect.
China was confident of overcoming the crisis, he said.
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