Currently, there are 8 state-level economic development zones approved by the State Council, and 54 provincial-level economic development zones of various sorts and 4 export processing zones approved by Zhejiang Provincial People's Government. The state-level and provincial-level development zones and export processing zones, as economic growth points full of vigor, are where the attraction of foreign funds is the most highly concentrated and the economy there shows the quickest growth. The construction of the state-level and provincial-level development zones and export processing zones greatly promotes the economic development, structural adjustment and industrial upgrade in the whole province.
In 2005, a total of 1,072 projects with foreign investment were approved by the 62 state-level and provincial-level economic (technological) development zones, the contracted foreign capital reached US $7.493 billion USD and the foreign capital in use amounted to US $3.984 billion, accounting for 31.6%, 46.5% and 51.6% respectively of the total of the province. Up to the end December 2004, accumulatively 8139 projects with foreign investment have been ratified in the development zones over the province, the contracted utilized foreign funds reached US $31.48 billion and the factually foreign funds amounted to US $14.59billion, accounting for 25.2%, 50.1% and 50.3% of the total sums over the province respectively.
Infrastructures in the state-level and provincial-level economic (technological) development zones and the export processing zones in Zhejiang are fully constructed, capable of meeting the requirements of a variety of industrial projects and high- and new-tech industrial projects. Meanwhile, the development zones are well equipped with soft environment for investment. For instance, the departments concerned of the local government have established their offices (personnel) in the development zones to provide full-range services regarding the examination and approval, construction and operation of the enterprises in the zones. These offices and personnel also help the investors with all the necessary procedures they have to go through. Enterprises with foreign investment in the development zones enjoy certain preferential treatment in tax, etc.