(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-20 10:50

US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Robert Kimmitt (right) and Haier Vice-President Zhou Yunjie (left) browse a Home Depot store in Beijing yesterday. Kimmitt is on a tour of China to reassure investors that the US remains open to foreign investments. [newsphoto]

US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Robert Kimmitt pledged on Tuesday US commitment to maintaining an open economy and said the country welcomed foreign investment.

"We welcome investment from all around the world. We would like the Chinese to consider investment opportunities in the US," said Kimmitt at a press briefing.

"I'm emphasizing the US commitment to maintaining an open economy as demonstrated by President Bush's May 10 statement on the benefits offoreign direct investment(FDI) for the US economy," Kimmitt said.

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He said in the United States, economic activity generated by FDI accounts for more than 4 percent of the country's workforce, roughly 5.1 million Americans, but provides 10 percent of capital investment, 13 percent of annual research and development spending and nearly 20 percent of United States exports.

"We think it's important to continue to talk about investment in the strategic economic dialogue (between US and China) and work together to ensure that as the US and China continue to lower barriers to investment, so do the rest of the world," said Kimmitt.

He said the United States welcomes investment from both private companies and State-owned or State-controlled companies, though he said there are issues attached to investments by State-owned or state-controlled companies that do not apply in fully private transactions.

Kimmitt met with some Chinese government officials, including Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, and Lou Jiwei, who is heading the group preparing the state foreign exchange investment company.

When meeting with Lou, they laid out some of the processes that will apply to investments in the US, particularly regarding FDI.

Kimmitt will continue to meet with a number of Chinese government agencies as well as private US and Chinese companies before going to Russia.