GERMAN chemical and health-care company Bayer and its wholly owned subsidiary Agfa-Gevaert are to invest about US$200 million in six mainland projects.
The plans were revealed following the signing of a comprehensive basic agreement between Bayer and Chinese officials in Beijing on Saturday.
''Contractual negotiations are expected to proceed with all due speed, and certain projects could even be completed in 1994,'' said Dieter Becher, a Bayer spokesman for the Far East.
The agreement provides for close co-operation in the planning and construction of chemical plants, including engineering and technology transfers, along with joint research-and-development projects and the promotion of environmental protection technology.
Mr Becher said there would also be co-operation in market development and vocational training.
Turnover for the Bayer group in China in 1992 was 520 million deutschemarks (about HK$2.35 billion).
Mr Becher said it would be difficult to grow on the basis of imports alone.
