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Workers carry a Sinopec logo in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Sinopec, together with 14 State-owned enterprises under the central government, will invest 374 billion yuan ($56.2 billion) in the coastal province on the western side of the Taiwan Straits. [China Daily]

Central State-owned enterprises (SOEs) signed investment agreements worth 374 billion yuan ($56.2 billion) with Fujian province on Thursday, as part of the central government's efforts to invigorate growth in the economic zone on the western side of the Taiwan Straits.

"Fast economic development in Fujian has provided favorable opportunities for central SOEs to expand their business in the region, and the enterprises will help accelerate the region's industrial upgrading," said Wang Yong, chairman at the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC).

Under the agreements, a consensus on investment projects involving the electronics, oil, clean energy and oceanic high-tech fields was reached between the Fujian provincial government and central SOEs, including China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

CNNC Fujian Nuclear Power Plant, funded by a joint CNNC and China Huadian Corporation 80 billion yuan investment, will go on line in 2012, aims to set up six 1,000-megawatt nuclear power units and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,600 tons annually when the first two units are completed.

Wang of SASAC said growing high-tech industries will be a priority for the central SOEs' investment in Fujian.

More than 40 central SOEs have already launched investment projects in Fujian, and the investment volume in the region is expected to reach 846.6 billion yuan over the next few years.

"The central enterprises' investments are a vital part of the development of our regional economy," said Huang Xiaojing, governor of Fujian province.

"While small- and medium-sized enterprises are highly profitable here and bring economic vitality to our province, we also need State-owned enterprises to support our regional development," said Sun Chunlan, secretary of the Fujian provincial committee of the Communist Party of China.

Located on the western side of the Taiwan Straits, Fujian has gained great business potential from the central government's call for efforts to accelerate construction of the economic zone and give full play to promoting cross-Straits communication.

Under the guidelines of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), Fujian is hoping to secure comprehensive development and improvements.

The province will achieve 1.4 trillion yuan in gross domestic product by the end of this year and hopes to reach 4 trillion yuan by 2020.

The central government included the development of an economic zone on the western side of the Straits in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), and domestic and overseas companies have since been rushing to establish a presence there.

The mainland and Taiwan signed a comprehensive trade pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, in June, ushering in a new era of full cooperation and mutual trust across the Straits.

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