The Beijing municipal government has drawn up guidelines on foreign investment in the tertiary industry, which are expected to take effect on April 1.

Zhou He, vice-director with the Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Committee, said: "The new policy is based on the Chinese Foreign Investment Guidelines issued by the central government this month and designed to face the challenges and opportunities brought by China's accession to the World Trade Organization and Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games."

The new guidelines are aimed at helping Beijing take the lead in opening up the tertiary-industry sector, especially in commerce, construction, education, environmental protection, finance, logistics, telecommunications, tourism and transport.

Foreigners are allowed to set up wholly foreign-funded enterprises, as long as they are engaged in architecture technology consultancy, investment management, public relations, personnel training, restaurant business, real-estate development and management.

Foreign commercial and logistics enterprises are encouraged to take part in the operation of modern logistics, chain stores and supermarkets, as well as e-business.

The municipal government is trying to sharpen the competitive edge of its telecom companies by promoting Sino-foreign co-operation and assets reorganization.

"For the tourism sector, the existing joint ventures should further expand their scale of operations and enhance their efficiency and service quality in a short period of time," Zhou said.

Meanwhile, the Beijing municipal government will spare no effort to attract more international tourism organizations and foreign business associations to set up regional headquarters and representative institutes in the city and encourage foreign investors to take part in the construction and renovation of large-scale travelling facilities and visiting sites.

"An urgent task of the financial sector might be introducing more experienced professionals, and the government should encourage leading foreign financial institutions to set up intermediary and consultancy subsidiaries or joint ventures here," Zhou said.

In addition to the above sectors, the 2008 Olympic Games will offer huge opportunities to Chinese and foreign investors.

"A series of public-bid invitations is to be held for projects related to the world's grandest sporting event," Zhou said.

The bids will involve energy supply, transport, environmental protection, renovation of dangerous and old houses, and the construction of sports stadiums and supporting facilities. The total required investment is estimated to be 240 billion yuan (US$28.9 billion).

The government will create a fair and transparent arena for investors from home and abroad to compete in accordance with international principles and market practice.

"We are striving to offer the participants sufficient, complete and accurate information and policy consultancy services," Zhou added.