Jining in East China's Shandong province has been improving its business environment, and this has significantly fueled the development of local companies and strengthened cooperation with foreign investors.

Jining Hosung Yongsheng Co is a joint venture established last year by Hosung Machinery Co in South Korea and Yongsheng Heavy Industry Co in Jining. The company recently manufactured its first hot forging equipment.

Boasting cutting-edge equipment manufacturing technologies and a team of R&D professionals, Hosung Yongsheng has become a supplier to many global industry leaders and is expected to generate 30 billion yuan ($4.64 billion) in annual output. The company's success is to a great extent due to Jining's efforts in building a favorable business environment, said Qian Benliang, deputy director of the company.

The Jining National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, where the company is located, has set up an office in South Korea which helps Yongsheng Heavy Industry facilitate cooperation with the South Korean group. "We have visited Hosung seven times. They were impressed by our expertise in the forging equipment sector and finally decided to cooperate with us," said Lin Jianhui, director of the office.

After the deal was inked, the Jining high-tech zone helped the company make full use of preferential policies as well as obtain land and 300 million yuan in capital. As many administrative services are now provided by the city's local bureau, the time needed to complete the formalities has been significantly reduced.

The Jining high-tech zone is currently building a Sino-South Korean high-end equipment industrial park and has attracted five projects from South Korea.