Foreign investment from China into the UK grew by 13% during in the last financial year, making China the 9th top investment source globally, said a report released Friday by UK Trade and Investment, the UK Government's international business development organisation.

Chinese companies invested in 59 projects in the UK in 2007-2008, up from 52 the year before. Altogether 1,337 jobs were created or secured by the new Chinese investments made last year.

Those new investments were in the automotive, telecommunications, media and pharmaceutical industries. Big projects include the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) Motor Technical Centre for the design and development of vehicles for the global market, China Mobile's first overseas office and headquarters for operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, the national broadcaster CCTV's European headquarters, and a traditional Chinese medicine research center in Cambridge by the Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Factory.

In the last fiscal year, 1,573 foreign investment projects were made in the UK. That is a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Investment from Asia Pacific grew 25 percent, more than double the global rate. Major investors from that area are Japan, India and China. Japan is the 3rd and India is the 8th source of foreign projects in the UK.

Investments from the top three, USA, France and Canada, are all down while the most significant growth --- a rise of more than 80 percent --- comes from Sweden and Ireland.

By People's Daily Online