Authorities in Zhejiang province attend a ceremony marking the commencement of construction on 54 major foreign-funded projects on Nov 5 in Jiaxing. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Fifty-four major foreign-funded projects worth more than $10 billion commenced construction in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province on Nov 5. 

The projects, with investments from Germany, Italy, Singapore, Japan, and a number of other countries, focus mainly on high-end equipment manufacturing, aviation, new materials, modern services, auto parts, and intelligent home appliances.

One major project, worth 12.8 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) involves the production of helicopters in Zhangjiang Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Park in Jiaxing. It was signed by Italian high-tech company Leonardo S.p.A. and Shanghai investment firm Zenisun Group in June.

The project is expected to produce 150 helicopters every year and generate 16 billion yuan in annual output.

"We will try our best to deliver the first batch of helicopters next October," said Zou Jianming, president of Zenisun.

Statistics show that Zhejiang brought in $10.94 billion worth of foreign investment in the first three quarters, up 18.7 percent year-on-year and 15.8 percentage points higher than the national average.

During the period, Zhejiang introduced 84 projects worth more than $100 million each, 16 of which were funded by Fortune Global 500 companies. Foreign investment from developed economies such as Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States grew by more than 70 percent.

"Foreign-funded projects play an important role in our economic transformation and upgrading," said Yuan Jiajun, governor of Zhejiang province.

Yuan urged all departments in the province to attract more foreign investment, especially in digital economy, life sciences, high-end manufacturing, and new materials, accelerate reforms to streamline administrative procedures and strengthen support for companies in terms of land, finance, and talents.