The Standard

Week in Review

**** The Iraqi government voided a contract with the Russian company LukOil to develop the West Qurna oil field. The contract, canceled once during the Saddam era, had had dubious merits.

**** Shares of PetroChina nearly tripled during its first day of trading on the Shanghai market. The company's resulting market cap of more than $1 trillion flamed concerns about an asset bubble in the Chinese stock market.

**** The Russian lower parliament voted 418 - 0 to withdraw Russia from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE). Putin and the upper house are expected to fully ratify the measure by December 12.

**** China's National Development and Reform Center (NDRC) issued a new enforcement guide that will advise Chinese officials to restrict foreign investment in several industries and welcome it in sectors where China stands to gain technological know-how.

China Issues New Guide For Foreign Investment

Guide Both Encourages, Bans Investment In Selected Sectors

The National Development and Reform Center (NDRC) in China has issued a new guide designed to help Chinese officials regulate foreign investment.

The guide encourages foreign investment in sectors where China stands to benefits from outside investors' technological know-how. 

It gives a "shopping list" of favored industries that include biotechnology, printing machinery and consumer electronics.

Foreign companies are also banned from owning media-related entities such as news services, internet sites and internet cafes.

The guidelines will officially take effect on December 1.

Regulating Investment

China has sought to take advantage of foreign investors' desire to gain footing in its booming industries while protecting its domestic interests.

This summer the government passed measures that required foreign mergers and acquisitions to undergo a national security review if they were considered to threaten Chinese economic security or involved the rights transfer of a major Chinese brand.