With labor costs rising rapidly in coastal areas, more foreign companies looking to inland areas

Promoting foreign direct investment in the middle and western regions of China is a top priority, while in the eastern region the focus is to improve the efficiency of the use of foreign funds, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

"In recent years, foreign investment into central region and western region has been growing fast. Many multinational companies have directly entered markets in the western region when investing in China," said Huang Feng, deputy director-general of the ministry's foreign investment administration department.