Nanjing is one of the country’s key cities in the opening-up drive. It ranked fifth in the “2006 China Top 100 Cities with Best Investment Environment” issued by the National Statistics Bureau, and also ranked fifth on the list of “Cities Most Welcome to American Enterprises” in the 2007 China Business Report compiled by the American Chamber of Commerce. Nanjing enjoys the advantages of many high-grade channels in its endeavor of export-oriented economy with four State-level development zones, nine provincial-level development zones, two State-level export processing zones and one State-level bonded logistics center.

Nanjing New & Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone is one of the country’s first batch of State-level development zones, and has relatively strong strength in the fields of software R&D, bioengineering & pharmacy, and automobile, and is one of China’s major bases of software industry.

Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone borders the Nanjing Port and is developed in transportation and logistics. With more than 60 flat panel display enterprises–including Sharp, LG Philips and LG Electronics –concentrated in the zone, it is China’s largest flat panel display production base.

The Nanjing Jiangning Development Zone is near the Lukou International Airport, and is a hi-tech eco-industrial park. The zone focuses on developing automobile and spare parts, and currently has such vehicle manufacturing enterprises as Ford and Mazda, and more than 20 accessory factories. As part of its efforts to develop overseas, Nanjing has made investment in Lekki free trade zone of Nigeria.

Nanjing Chemical Industry Park is one of China’s two major petrochemical production bases approved by the State. Leading projects by BASF-YPC Company Ltd, Celanese of Germany and British BP have already begun operation in the park.

By the end of 2008, there had been 10,700 foreign-invested projects in Nanjing with investment from 105 countries and regions. Among them, 89 World Top 500 enterprises have invested in 157 projects, including Germany’s BASF, Siemens, Bayer, Dutch Shell, Philips, British BP, Sweden’s Ericsson, Ford, Motorola, Best Buy, Kimberly-Clark and Emerson of the US, Japan’s Sharp, Itochu, Fujitsu, and Republic of Korea’s LG and Samsung.

In recent years, Nanjing’s foreign trade has witnessed fast development, with more than 2,380 enterprises establishing trade relations with over 200 countries and regions, yielding an annual foreign trade revenue of over US$40 billion. There are 48 enterprises each generating an export value of more than US$100 million. They include LG Display, Warburg Communications and Ericson-Panda Electronics, and their combined export value reached US$14.45 billion, accounting for 61.2% of the city’s total exports. Among the exports, medical and chemical products, machinery and mineral products, mechanical and electrical products, and agricultural products have shown a trend of fast growth.