Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China is taking vigorous steps to create a more open and optimal investment environment for foreign-invested enterprises. Xi made the remarks while attending the opening ceremony of the 2nd World Investment Forum (WIF) in Xiamen City, southeast China's Fujian Province.

Themed "Investment for Sustainable Development", the three-day forum "will discuss the challenges and opportunities for global investment in a post-crisis economy," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) - organizer of the biennial forum, on Tuesday during the ceremony.

According to Xi, attracting foreign investment is beneficial to both China and foreign firms as it has provided fund, advanced technologies, managerial expertise and talents to support China's modernization and, at the same time, generated handsome returns for foreign-invested enterprises.

"Many foreign-invested enterprises in China have become the growth engines and profit centers of their parent companies' global business," he said.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) this year was set to "surpass US$ 100 billion," compared to US$90 billion last year, an official with China's Ministry of Commerce predicted on Sunday.

"The latest UNCTAD survey shows that China is still the most appealing host for investment in the world," Xi said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2010)