London - Chinese investors created approximately 1,500 jobs in the United Kingdom in the year ended March 31. That's twice the number for the previous year, despite a drop in the number of projects under investment, according to the government body, United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI).

In the period 2010-2011, Chinese companies invested in 59 projects, which provided 1,471 jobs. China was the seventh-largest investor in the UK, one position lower than the previous year, but the number of jobs almost doubled from 760 in the previous year.

"Among the high-growth markets, India and China are still the two principal sources of inward investment by project numbers," UKTI said in a report released on Monday.

During the year that ended March 2011, the UK received 1,434 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.

More than 94,500 jobs were associated with these investments.

Compared with the previous year, associated job numbers rose, despite an 11 percent decline in project numbers. The increase came across a range of sectors, including financial services, environmental technologies, e-commerce and software and computer services.

The UK is a major destination for overseas Chinese investment. By the end of April this year, China had non-financial direct investment of $1.25 billion in the UK, according to the Chinese embassy in the UK.

China also ranks as the second-largest investor in London in terms of the number of investing companies.

China's investment in the UK has developed in equity participation and mergers and acquisitions, according to the embassy in London, which added that China's areas of investment extended to high-end manufacturing, creative industries, and research and development centers, from trade, banking, insurance, telecommunications and shipping.

MG Motor UK Ltd in Birmingham is a wholly Chinese-funded subsidiary of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, following the Chinese company's acquisition of the MG Group. Its MG6 cars are the latest example of how China and the UK can work together.

In turn, the UK is the second-largest European Union investor in China. By the end of April, the UK had invested in 6,830 projects in China, with paid-in investment of $17.4 billion.

Foreign investment is regarded as important in driving a private-sector-led recovery in the UK while the government slashes spending to cut a record budget deficit.

"In this competitive, globalized world, it is our determination to do all that we can to secure more investment, more jobs and more trade," the report quoted British Prime Minister David Cameron, as saying.

With 388 projects, the United States remains by far the biggest source of investment projects in the UK, accounting for 27 percent of all investment and almost 40 percent of created or safeguarded jobs.

China Daily