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<>China and the world will face tough economic challenges next year, minister Li Rongrong of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) warned at a press conference on Wednesday during the APEC-meetings in Shanghai.

<>Economic crises in the past four years have severely disrupted the capital markets and Asian business people are eager to tap into the rich resources of Chinese savings, said Roman R. Del Rosanrio jr, chairman AB Capital & Investment corp. in the Philippines. “China can develop into Asia’s most important capital market, but is now only inward looking,” he said. “Its savings are too large to use only within its own borders and it will have to look for attractive investments opportunities outside China.”

<>“We want to invest for two reasons,” said Bill Gates at a press conference at the APEC CEO Summit in Shanghai on Friday. “We think the market will grow and China has incredible human resources.”

The Microsoft’ founder encouraged China to put more effort in the education of software engineers. “Education is the major challenge,” said Gates. China needs at least a 100,000 software engineers per year to get on the same level as India and the US, he estimated.

<>Fortis has obtained a license for life insurances for the whole of China, while its foreign competitors are limited to certain regions, mostly Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Belgium-Dutch financial services provider signed on Friday bought a 24.9% interest in the Tai Ping Life (TPL). Fortis paid US$88 million for the equity and will expand its share up to 49% or more, depending on the regulation China is going to adopt under the WTO-agreements, a press release of the company says.

<>United States-based life insurer New York Life and French giant AXA Group revealed plans to enter, or expand, on the mainland market before the country enters the World Trade Organization (WTO), the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports on Monday.

<>French telecom giant Alcatel will invest US$312 million to increase its stake in Shanghai Bell, the nation's largest maker of telecommunication networks, and merge all of its China operations within two years, media report on Wednesday.

Alcatel will buy 8.35 percent of Shanghai Bell from the Belgian government and 10 percent plus one share from the Chinese government. Thus Alcatel will hold a 50 per cent plus one share stake in total, compared to the current 31.65 percent stake. The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will control the Chinese stake.

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