Foreign investment in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, the nation's first pilot zone to open up to Taiwan, in Fujian province, increased by $472 million in the first quarter of 2013, Fujian Daily reported on April 5.

A total of 22 foreign-invested companies settled in the pilot zone in the first three months of the year, with a total registered capital of $169 million and a total investment of $472 million, an increase of 56.9 and 3.4 times, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2012.

The new foreign-invested companies included six firms from Taiwan, accounting for 42.1 percent of all 98 newly-settled Taiwan-invested companies in Fujian province in the first quarter of the year.

Another three Hong Kong-invested companies have also registered in the pilot zone. The registered capital of the three firms accounted for more than 90 percent of the total increase in foreign registered capital in the pilot zone during the same period.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai