According to the government plan, the corridor will mainly develop five core industries of machinery equipment, petrochemicals, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and high-tech.

The focus of work this year and in 2007 will be to construct the initial start-up zone covering 114.5 square kilometres.

So far, the combined investment in the corridor has reached 19.35 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion), sources with the local government said.

In another development, Heilongjiang realized a foreign trade volume of US$9.59 billion in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 36.9 per cent over the same period last year.

The figure is a record high in Heilongjiang's foreign trade history, also higher than the total amount of last year, which hit just US$9.57 billion, official statistics said.

The export and import volume totalled US$6.19 billion and US$3.4 billion respectively in the first three quarters, both of which are an increase of 36.9 per cent.

As a northeastern province sharing land borders with Russia, Heilongjiang has also witnessed increasing trade with Russia.

Statistics from the local government said that bilateral trade volume between Heilongjiang and Russia hit about US$4.8 billion in the first nine months, accounting for 50 per cent of its total.

Heilongjiang has developed into the nation's major trade partner with Russia, with its foreign trade volume with Russia in the first three quarters making up 19.5 per cent of China's total.

Heilongjiang mainly exports garments, shoes, and electrical machinery to Russia, while importing wood and fertilizer from the country.

Besides Russia, Saudi Arabia has also become Heilongjiang's fourth largest trade partner, with bilateral trade volume hitting US$482 million in the first three quarters, an increase of 26.76 per cent over the same period last year.

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