"Environment is the lifeline." This is a concept proposed by Yantai Development Zone in the late 1990s when many other development zones were still advocating the concept that project is the lifeline. Yantai Development Zone is among the first ones of the 49 state-level economic and technological development zones to bring forward this idea.
　　
Wang Xiuchen, who is a member of the Standing Committee of Yantai Municipal Committee of the CPC, secretary of the working committee for the development zone, director of the management committee, considered a good investment environment as the environment most wanted by investors at home and abroad, which should be a world-class investment environment.

With superior geographical and traffic conditions opening up to the world, Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone is supported by Yantai City, which is located in the west of Pacific, seeing South Korea and Japan across the sea, and also is an important port for economic and trade exchanges, passenger flow and logistics between China and Northeast Asia. Yantai is one of China's earliest trading ports, and Yantai Development Zone is closely linked to the outside world by land, sea and air transport networks. Laishan International Airport in Yantai has more than 50 domestic and international airlines, and Yantai Port is one of China's top 10 ports. Tongsan Expressway, State Road G206 and Weiwu Expressway go across Yantai as China's north-south artery traffic. Lanyan railway and Yantai-Dalian railway ferry are connected to the national railway network.
　　
Yantai has first-class infrastructure of the country. Since its establishment, Yantai Development Zone has invested over RMB yuan 14 billion to provide high standard infrastructure, and supply water, heating, sewage treatment, electricity, communication facilities and so on. In 2002, it became the third region with urban information pipeline intensification after Shanghai and Beijing. It has a developed capital goods market with all-round functions such as information industrial park, software industrial park, modern logistics park, export processing zone, bonded logistics centre, demonstration plot for renewable resources processing and so on. It is also the first experimental area of "Digital Development Zone" in China. West Yantai Port has also been under construction, which is designed with a cargo-handling capacity of 200 million tons and will soon become an important base for China's new near-port industries and shipment.
　　
Yantai Development Zone is striving to propel the formation of "efficient government" and "Sunshine Government", a positive transformation of government functions, and serve the opening up and economic construction with an advanced concept. Yantai Development Zone has actively perfected its one-stop service, one-stop official business, set up a "do immediately" office, and had a complaint hotline for foreign businessmen. It began to implement the ISO9000 Standards early in departments at all levels of the region, took service as a kind of product while tracking and managing the entire service process with continuous improvement. Service with high quality, efficiency, standards and friendliness, has become a "trump card" for Yantai Development Zone to attract investment.
　　
Plant beautiful trees to attract the phoenix. Till the end of June 2007, Yantai Development Zone has attracted foreign businessmen from 43 countries and regions to invest here, and the total investment is U.S. $ 8.88 billion. There are 205 projects with an investment of more than U.S. $ 10 million respectively, and nearly 40 enterprises which belong to the world top 500 enterprises have settled here. Yantai Development Zone has become a hot investment area for multinational companies by virtue of superior integrated environment.