Present Development Status
　　With construction prepared in 1992, the establishment of Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone was approved by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Government in December 1992. In April 2000, the zone was upgraded to the state level. With the planned area of 16.1 km², the zone is 2.6 km away from the downtown of Shihezi. 
　　The zone is a development zone in the far most western China and is the only state-level development zone of China oriented toward nations along the railway of Asia-Europe continental bridge and the only state-level development zone of China in which “Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Five Central Asian Countries”. The zone is located in the city of Shihezi, which won the “UN Award of Best Model for Improvement of Human Residence Environment” and the first Award of China for Human Residence.
　　 Since it was established ten years, the zone has been developing by leaps and bounds. Through the first—stage development for a 5.3 km²-area, infrastructure facilities such as road, water supply and drainage system, electricity supply, heat supply and communication have all been developed. By the end of 2001, 299 enterprises had registered in the zone and with the total investment of 3 billion yuan; and the amount of foreign capital or non-local domestic capital actually utilized reached 1.5 billion yuan RMB. Annually, key economic indexes increase by over 45%, such as GDP, gross industrial product value, industrial added value, fixed asset and tax. A number of industries with high content of science and technology have been established, including green food, textile, fine chemical industry, biochemistry industry, water-efficient materials and agriculture machines. So far, investment has been attracted from enterprises of many countries and regions such as the U.S., Japan, Korea, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, China.

Investment Environment
    The city of Shihezi is located in the northern side of Tianshan Mountain, south edge of Jungar Basin and the side of Manas Reiver, and 150 km west of Urumqi. The general community of Shihezi covers an area of 7529 km² with the population of 590,000. Through development and construction for 50-odd years, an agriculture-based economic pattern has been shaped with the integration of agriculture, industry and commerce and mainly including cotton and wool textile, sugar making, food, paper-making, thermal power, plastic chemistry and building material industry. Presently, in the general community of Shihezi, there are over 340 industrial enterprises and 18 large state-run farms, producing over 500 kinds of industrial products, of which 55 items were appraised as quality products of state-level or provincial-level standard and exported to over 50 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Hong Kong and Macao. With cultivated land of 300,000 hectares, it is an important base for the production of grain, cotton, sugar, cooking oil, meat and poultry. 40-odd enterprises have the right to engage in import and export on their own.  
　　The city of Shihezi is a city directly under the autonomous regional government and one of the cities opened up earliest in Xinjiang. With an administrative division of 460 km², the city has a population of 290,000. The famous Asia-Europe continental bridge (railway) and No.312 National Highway pass through the north and south of the city. The newly built Shihezi Airport lies in its suburb. Asia-Europe optic cable passes through the downtown of the city. With advanced postal and telecommunication facilities, strength in science, technology and education, developed cultural and public health undertakings and complete financial institutions providing coordinated home and oversea service, the city has and strong functions of modern comprehensive service. The forest cover rate has reached 42%, and the city is well known as “Gobi Pearl” on the ancient silk road for it boasts beautiful gardens and environment.

Preferential Policies 　　
     New joint venture, solely invested enterprise and cooperative joint venture established in the zone by foreign investors and enterprises based in other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions may enjoy relevant preferential policies formulated by the State Council concerning the western region development and policies formulated by the Xnjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for the invitation of businesses and encouraging foreign investment. In addition, qualified investors may be granted preferential policies and measures for encouraging investment and promoting cooperation, such as Preferential Policy of Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone for Encouraging Investment and Implementation Measures and Preferential Policy and Implementation Measures of Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone for Encouraging Investment of Enterprises directly under the Corps and Investment of divisions of the Corps.  

Development Prospect 
     With gross economic volume taking up one fourth that of the Corps, good investment environment and its advantages in science and technology and talent, the reclamation area of Shihezi is the important force for the economic development of the Corps. By relying on the existing fundamentals and resource advantages and supported by new and hi-tech technology and advanced and applicable technologies, Shihezi Economic and Technological Development Zone will make strong pillar industries such as food, textile, agriculture-related industry and building materials, accelerate the development of industries of paper-making, chemistry, energy, medicine and environment protection and strive to make new breakthroughs in fields such as new and hi-tech industry and bioengineering technology. Vigorous efforts will be made to set up industrial new and hi-tech park and agricultural new and hi-tech park mainly invested by enterprise groups such as Tianye, Tianfu, Tianhong, Xintian, Zhongji and Longyuan so as to make Shihezi the leading force for economic development of the Corps, an important showcase of opening up, and one of the important centers in the economic belt along the northern side of Tianshan Mountain.