On September 24th, nearly 100 major companies from around the world gathered at the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing seeking opportunities for new developments. More than 40 companies signed 44 project investment agreements, totaling 73.7 billion Yuan. There are now over 110 world Fortune-500 class companies that have committed to set up operations in the Liangjiang New Area, making the area a major driving force for opening up the west of China, following a new strategy for providing opportunities for the world's top 500 enterprises.

The signed investment projects include 19 industrial projects, 9 commercial and logistics programs, 9 financial projects, and 7 real estate and headquarters projects, of which there are 37 involving foreign investment totaling US $6.4 billion from the USA, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines and other countries, accounting for 55.6% of the total contracts. Examples of foreign investment projects include a $1.1 billion investment from the automotive board of Germany's Thyssen-Krupp, an $800 million investment from the "UMC" Xin Xing project, a $300 million investment project from the USA's General Electric, and a $200 million investment project involving automobile accessory items from Mexico's Nemak. All fit in to the eight industry clusters of the New Area, such as automotive, electronic information, high-end equipment, and so on. It is also of great significance for the Liangjiang New Area to improve its industrial supply chain, bringing in superior world resources and enhancing its industrial competitiveness and economic openness.

In the financial arena, one of the largest multinational investment companies in Asia - the Pacific Alliance Group from Hong Kong - will invest $3.2 billion to establish the Pacific Alliance Equity Investment Fund and the Pacific Alliance Small Loans Company. A large scale private equity group, M&A-Epigraphy Fund, will invest 3.35 billion Yuan in the Liangjiang New Area, which will greatly expedite the process of innovative finance and serve as an international clearing house for the New Area.

Noteworthy quotes from participants include:

Huang Keqiang, Chief Commercial Officer of General Electric: "Go West is the strategy General Electric is following in China now. There is a huge potential in the Liangjiang New Area. General Electric is optimistic about this market."

Mr. Mosley, Vice President, Seagate Global: "The Liangjiang New Area is a place that's full of opportunities as well as being dynamic, where I can inspire enthusiasm for future development. Currently, Seagate is trying to adapt to the changes in the global market. The research we are doing now is to prepare for that future development."

Bak Ying Ho, President, SK Group: SK Group chose Chongqing Liangjiang New Area as our first joint venture project in the west of China, which fully explains SK's recognition of the great prospects and investment environment. Right now, SK is speeding up implementation of the localization strategy in China, hoping to establish close communication mechanism ties between the Liangjiang New Area and SK (China) and promote cooperation between them in more areas.