China to host series of events to strengthen investment promotion in national development zones: official

China will host a series of events to strengthen investment promotion in the national-level economic and technological development zones, said a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Ling Ji, vice commerce minister, said China will also fully use global innovation resources and achievements to develop new quality productive forces.

Noting that investment promotion is the core function and responsibility of the national-level economic and technological development zones, Ling said under the "Invest in China" brand, the Ministry of Commerce had been actively developing the sub-brand "Choose Economic Development Zones," referred to as "Invest in China -- Choose Economic Development Zones."

The vice minister further said more efforts would be made in three aspects.

"First, we will organize a series of targeted investment promotion activities. In October this year, we will host the China-Nordic Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Wuhan, during which we will organize the 'Development Zones Dialogue with the Fortune 500' event. The national-level economic and technological development zones from regions such as the Yangtze River Delta and Chengdu-Chongqing will be invited to participate.Second,we will innovatively create investment scenarios for industrial parks. We will support the national-level economic and technological development zones in activating existing capitals, increasing reinvestment, and attracting equity investment. We will accelerate the transformation toward green, digital, and smart industries, deepen international cooperation in park development, and innovate investment scenarios. Third, we will actively promote coordinated investment between the eastern, central, and western regions. In recent years, we have actively supported the national-level economic and technological development zones in the eastern, central, and western regions to conduct joint investment promotion activities," said Ling.

"In addition, we have been conducting experience exchange and business training, summarizing and promoting excellent investment promotion practices, sharing experiences in improving the business environment, and enhancing the investment promotion and enterprise service capabilities of the national-level economic and technological development zones, so as to strengthen the capacity-building of the investment promotion teams," he said.

China to host series of events to strengthen investment promotion in national development zones: official

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight