Executives from Intel, Motorola, Alcoa and other Fortune 500 companies are attending the Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum taking place in Nanning, capital of the southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They are taking part in discussions on how to attract international investment and enhance the further development of the region.

Chen Ruixian, the vice director of the Management Committee of the Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, said Guangxi plans to turn the zone into a logistics, trade and manufacturing base, and an information exchange center to promote cooperation between China and the ten countries of ASEAN .

And leading Guangxi officials said that the government is working hard to attract top international firms, especially those on the Fortune 500 list, to invest in Guangxi

Some, like Finnish wood and paper products giant Stora Enso and Chinese firm COFCO, already have operations in the area. The government is eager to use these examples to attract other top-flight companies to Guangxi.

Mats Nordlander, global executive vice president of Stora Enso, said, "My group and I have great confidence in Guangxi's investment environment because of the accelerating development of PBG region and the establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA). We believe that our investment in Guangxi will be successful."

Chen Jinya, Asia-Pacific president of Alcoa, said China still has considerable capacity to absorb foreign investment. The country is developing very quickly and is passing through a new phase of industrial transfer. International companies should actively grasp this opportunity to invest in China and achieve win-win results he said.