The industrial development zones are Dongshen, Shejiang and Jiaohua industrial development zones. They have taken shape, with infrastructure facilities already completed.

And foreign investors will enjoy even more preferential policies when they set up their production facilities in the three industrial development zones, he said.

Meizhou's major attractions to foreign investors lie in its vast skilled labour force, cheap land use fees and abundant natural resources, he added.

The city has abundant reserves of rich limestone, iron ore, rare-earth metals, porcelain clay and 54 other mineral resources.

Meizhou's reserves of iron, manganese and antimony represent 13 per cent, 44 per cent and 34 per cent of Guangdong's total representatively.

The city has an estimated hydraulic electricity generating capacity of more than 1.24 million kilowatts.

Meizhou also has abundant hot spring water resources. Fengshun County under the administration of Meizhou is known as a county of hot springs by the State.

The city has a registered labour force of more than 2.6 million. Of them, more than one million people are skilled workers who have received special training.

Meizhou has one university with more than 10,000 students and 31 vocational schools and 27 high schools.

To attract more foreign investment for the city's economic construction, Meizhou municipal government plans to invest heavily to further improve the city's infrastructure facilities and expand its economic ties with the rest of the world.

More communication, electricity and telecommunication projects are being planned and constructed in the city.

Meizhou has railways and highways linking the city to the national railway and highway networks.

It takes about 3.5 hours for cars to complete a journey between Meizhou and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. And it takes less than 3 hours for cars to reach Shenzhen Special Economic Zone from Meizhou via Shenzhen-Meizhou Expressway.

Railway and expressway networks have also connected Meizhou to neighbouring Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in its northern part.

Meizhou International Airport has opened flights to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the city has an advanced inland river transportation network, linking the mountainous cities to major international harbours in coastal areas.

Meizhou has an inland river transportation network of 494 kilometres. Its inland river transportation volume reached 1.2 billion tons the previous year.

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