Investment Environment
Tianjin has become a hot spot for foreign investment. According to statistics by the end of 2007, investors from 131 countries and regions have invested in Tianjin with the number of foreign-invested enterprises approved being20, 357 and the value of contracts signed with foreign enterprises reaching US$ 77.843 billion. Foreign investment in place amounts to US$ 39.75billion.

In history, Tianjin is one of the port cities opened up for foreign trade. A lot of well-known entrepreneurs and financiers came here to start business at early days. As one of the origins of modern industry in China, Tianjin always highlights a nature of ancient commercial city. Nowadays, it is the largest coastal city in North China. Its improving investment environment, appealing market and abundant return for investment have attracted a great number of foreign-invested enterprises to set foot in Tianjin.

In 1987, "Foreign Investment Office of Tianjin Municipal Government" (also referred to as Tianjin Foreign Investment Service Center) was set up in order to encourage foreign investment. Since 2004, a city-wide event called Service Month has been held in early June or July every year. The event covers activities such as Public Reception Day, Commending Conference of Foreign-invested Enterprises, Lecture on Investment Environment and Policy Update.

With the ever-growing foreign investment to Tianjin, foreign-invested enterprises have been active in increasing their investment. In 2007, average investment for individual foreign-invested project was US$ 21.36 million, while value of contract signed with foreign enterprises was US$ 12.71 million, increasing by 55.3 percent and64.5 percent respectively year-on-year.

Industrial structure of Tianjin has been keeping optimized all the time. In particular, the city's secondary industry is undergoing optimization, while tertiary industry is taking a great leap. Rising continuously is the proportion of high-tech projects featuring intense investment, advanced technology, less resource used and better structured. In 2007, foreign direct investment (FDI) absorbed by the tertiary industry in Tianjin outnumbered that by the secondary industry in terms of percentage. Value of contract signed with foreign enterprises within the tertiary industry took up 58 percent of the total foreign investment in Tianjin, with a significant increase of 56.9 percent year-on-year. Foreign investment in place for the tertiary industry was US$ 2.651 billion in 2007, with a rise of 85.3percent year-on-year.

In addition, three kinds of foreign-funded ventures (joint, cooperative and foreign-owned) have achieved decent economic results. In2007, these enterprises registered a total industrial output of RMB 497.772 billion, taking up 49.4 percent of total volume and maintaining an increase of 11 percent year-on-year. Total profits scored RMB35.513 billion, up 18.6percent year-on-year. Per capital sales reached RMB 943,200 yuan.

After China joined the WTO, Tianjin began to expand its scope of trade and investment promotion. Multinationals like Carrefour and Wal-Mat rushed to explore markets here in Tianjin.

As the development of Binhai New Area was written into the national strategy, the historical mission and development target of Tianjin have arose to a new record height. The city's trade and investment promotion campaigns are expanding, widening their scope and reaching a new level. In 2007, contracted foreign capital directly utilized by the Binhai New Area was US$ 7.668 billion, US$ 3.924 billion of which was actually in place, up 24.1 percent and 17.3percent year-on-year respectively, accounting for 66.6 percent and 74.4 percent of total volume in Tianjin.

Headed by Airbus, a great number of market leaders of global manufacturing settle in the prospering Binhai New Area; The innovatively cooperative projects, such as the Dongjiang Bonded Port Area and Sino-Singapore Eco-City, were put into operation. Top 10 logistics giants have invested huge into the construction of Tianjin harbor and airport. The scale of outbound cooperation in high-end business area has been enlarged 10 times.

Economy and Finance
With 30 years building by reform and opening-up, the socialist market economy system and industrial structure is improving day by day. So far, seven advantageous industries have taken shape, represented by e-information, automobile, chemical industry, metallurgy, biotechnology and modern medicine, new energy sources and environment protection, spaceflight and aviation.
Although the international financial crisis spreads rapidly and the speed of world economy growth is slowing down, Tianjin economy still maintains at a steady and fast growing speed. In 2008, Tianjin total output value was RMB 635.438 billion, an increase of 16.5%, say RMB 130.398 billion increase over last year, the first time with an increase of exceeding RMB 100 billion. The total output value per capita in Tianjin was USD 7,800, nearing the level of middle developed countries. Tianjin had realized a directly contracted foreign investment of up to USD 13.256 billion, an increase of 15.1%, and actual contributed capital of USD 7.420, increasing 40.6% year on year. So far Tianjin has had 21,048 companies with foreign investment, with accumulated foreign investment of USD 47.2 billion.