Chinese companies invested 40.8 billion U.S. dollars in non-financial sectors overseas in the first three quarters, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, despite the global financial crisis, a senior official said Tuesday.

Chinese companies have been investing vigorously in foreign countries this year, despite the global slowdown in international investment activity caused by faltering economic recovery, Zhang Xiaoqiang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, said at the third China Overseas Investment Fair in Beijing.

China's outbound direct investment reached 68.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, up 21.7 percent from a year earlier, ranking above developing countries and surpassing Japan and Germany to be the world's fifth largest source of foreign direct investment outflows, Zhang said. By the end of 2010, Chinese companies had invested a total of 317.2 billion U.S. dollars in more than 178 countries and regions, according to Zhang.

As state-owned enterprises speed up overseas investment, more and more private-owned companies are also seeking opportunities abroad, he said and the government will continue to support competent Chinese companies in investing abroad in the future, with improved protection mechanism, legal system, services and supervision, Zhang added.

Please contact us in case of Copyright Infringement of the photo sourced from the internet, we will remove it within 24 hours.