The opening ceremony of Toyota Faw (Tianjin) Dies Co., Ltd. was held in TEDA on December 10. Mr. Li Yong, Chairman of TEDA Administrative Commission, Mr. Zhou Dehong, Deputy Director-General of Commerce Committee of Tianjin, and leaders from enterprises such as Toyota of Japan, China FAW, and Tianjin FAW all congratulated on the opening of Toyota Faw (Tianjin) Dies Co., Ltd.

When addressing the ceremony Mr. Li Yong said that Toyota Faw (Tianjin) Dies Co., Ltd. has experienced in many aspects such as die production and management. With its commencement of production the company will play an important role in supporting and improving the auto industry of TEDA. The joint venture of Toyota and FAW has greatly invited the arrival of the Japanese auto enterprises to TEDA for investment. As a pillar industry of TEDA in a new stage, the auto industry is the priority of TEDA¡¯s industrial development. We have formulated a development program for the auto industry, implemented corresponding preferential policies, and attracted a number of whole vehicle and component manufacturers to TEDA for investment. Up to now, with the arrival of FAW Toyota, the whole vehicle manufacturer, and more than 60 suppliers, TEDA¡¯s auto industry has attained a larger scale. TEDA Administrative Commission will continue supporting the enterprises for a better cooperation and promoting the development of auto industry with them.

Toyota Faw (Tianjin) Dies Co., Ltd. was established in March 2004 with a registered capital of 12 million dollars and an area of 40,000 square meters. It carries out its productions of poly processing, machining, assembly, and testing according to the mode of production and management of Toyota. Its main products are such large automobile outer panel dies as side panels and fender panels. It can meet the development and production of three types of vehicles each year. Its key clients are those related companies of Toyota and FAW.

On Dec. 9, a contract-signing ceremony for the transfer of land-use right between General Corporation of the Microelectronics Industrial Park of TEDA and BSE of South Korea was held in Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Hotel. Chairman Li Yong and Vice Chairman Ni Xiangyu of the Administrative Commission of TEDA, President Park Hyo-Maeng of BSE, Chairman Kim Ho-Nyun and Vice Chairman Park Hak-Joon of the South Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Tianjin) and others attended the signing ceremony.

Specializing in the production of mini-microphones, BSE regards mini-microphones for cell phones as its major products. With an annual output of 400 million, it has a 38% market share, the largest in the world. Its major customers include such famous multinational corporations as Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Cresyn, etc.

In order to supply accessories to many cell phone producers like Samsung in the northern part of China, BSE has decided to establish a plant in the Microelectronics Industrial Park of TEDA. With its first-phase investment of 14 million dollars and an expected investment increase of about 14 million dollars in two to three years, the new plant will expand its production scale and introduce new products, and finally make Tianjin a globally important mini-microphone production base. According to the project schedule, the plant will be put into operation in Sep. 2005 and will have its sales reach 52 million dollars in 2006.

On Dec. 6, 2004, Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) welcomed the 20th anniversary of its foundation.

In the past two decades, TEDA has accumulatively attained GDP of 225.8 billion yuan, total industrial output value of 605.3 billion yuan, profit of 31 billion yuan and financial revenue of 26 billion yuan. Over 10,000 enterprises from more than 60 countries have settled in TEDA. Among them such multinational corporations on the Fortune Global 500 list as Motorola, NovoNordisk, Toyota, Honeywell, CocaCola etc. have launched 93 projects here. TEDA, this land of 33-square-kilometers, which is on the western coast of the Bohai Sea and over 130 kilometers away southeast to Beijing, has become the best region admired by investors from home and abroad.

It was learned that in an appraisal conducted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in 2000, TEDA was selected as one of the world¡¯s top 100 regions in terms of industrial development speed. And in another appraisal made by the UNIDO in 2003, TEDA was among the six most dynamic cities and regions of China.

From 1994 to 2003, the major economic indicators of TEDA had maintained top positions among State-level development zones for ten successive years. The New Costal District with TEDA included has become the most vibrant economic region in Tianjin and even the northern part of China.

Mr. Li Yong, Chairman of the Administrative Commission of TEDA said that TEDA had always adhered to the policy of ¡°giving priorities to the industrial development and the utilization of overseas investment, and committing to the development of the high-tech industry¡±, and taken a new road to industrialization. He noted that the absorption of overseas investment was not the goal, and the key was to digest the advanced technologies and managerial experience in the absorption of overseas investment so as to promote the industrial restructuring and upgrading of Tianjin.

TEDA has fulfilled its investment absorption task of this year ahead of schedule. From Jan. to Nov. this year, altogether 153 overseas-funded enterprises had been newly approved, and 128 ones had increased their investment here. TEDA¡¯s total overseas investment, contracted overseas investment and actually utilized overseas investment has respectively risen by around 50% over the same period of last year. Among them, the latter two had taken leading positions among the State-level development zones, accomplishing 104.58% and 105.65% of their respective annual targets.

Since the beginning of this year, the general economic conditions of TEDA have maintained a momentum of healthy growth. In Nov. alone, its total overseas investment amounted to 188 million dollars, contracted overseas investment 51 million dollars, actually utilized overseas investment 41 million dollars, each up by 1.54%, 70% and 310% over the same period of last year. The projects newly approved in Nov. were mostly large ones like a carbon black project of Cabot Chemical (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. with 28-million-dollar investment, an auto logistics project of NYK Zhenhua Logistics (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. with 9-million-dollar investment, and a project of Tianjin Bixiang Science And Technology Co., Ltd. with 25-million-dollar investment. Moreover, as investors¡¯ satisfaction grows in TEDA, they have increased investment to restructure their companies and expand their production scales one after another. For instance, Tianjin Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. has added 22.5-million-dollar investment, and Tianjin Tingjin Food Co., Ltd. has increased 10-million-dollar investment. Both companies belong to the leading industries of TEDA and have made many investment increases. TEDA has become the best region for the development of overseas-funded enterprises.

According to the statistics issued by the relevant departments, by Nov. TEDA had accumulatively approved 3,832 overseas-funded projects, with their investment totalling 24.627 billion dollars, contracted overseas investment 20.239 billion dollars, actually utilized overseas investment 12.102 billion dollars, and average investment 6.4266 million dollars. Among them 386 projects had their investment over 10 million dollar each. And by Nov. altogether 9,650 domestic-funded enterprises in TEDA had passed this year¡¯s annual inspection, with their registered capital summing up to 39.22 billion yuan, and average investment 4.0632 million yuan. Among them 1,001 enterprises had made over 10-million-yuan investment each.

Aiming at starting businesses with hi-tech findings and repaying the homeland, the 2004 Overseas Returnee Week was unveiled in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area on Dec 16th, 2004. This event attracted wide attention among overseas Chinese students, 200 of whom personally came to the venue. Their research findings and overseas work experiences range from IT, biomedicine, new material and energy, finance, enterprise management to modern service industry. All of them are highly interested in hunting jobs or starting businesses at home.

Human resources consulting companies and capital investment institutions from Tianjin and other provinces and cities, as well as experts and scholars also showed up during the event. In less than 3 hours, they carried out face-to-face exchanges of views and project negotiations with the 200 returnees in a quite candid manner. Around 60 cooperative intentions were initially reached and the satisfaction rate of both sides was 100%.