BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhuanet)-- The tradition of obtaining funds from the government has become the major obstacle for the three provinces in northeast China to attract foreign capital, said HongHu, governor of Jilin province.

    The three provinces in northeast China, namely Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, once flourished as China's industrial base but have lagged behind in China's current reform oriented to a market-economy.

    Hong said Saturday during an interview with Xinhua that people in the region were accustomed to the planned-economy and knew little about how to use the market to raise funds for economic development, thus ignoring foreign investment.

    According to Hong, the local government used to favor regional companies over foreign investors when business disputes arose, which secured local companies' short-term interests at the cost ofscaring away investors. Some enterprises also failed to treat their foreign partners well enough, for historical reasons.

    With low labor costs, sufficient power supply and good infrastructure, the region should be a favorable place to invest, Hong said. The key factor was to recognize foreign capital's importance for the development of the regional economy, and ways to improve the environment for investment, he said.

    He urged the local government and enterprises to be more cooperative with foreign investors, and help foreign partners makemore money in the area. Enditem