Investors home in on urban growth (2)

The government signed an agreement last year with the World Bank to undertake a "knowledge hub" project.

Under the agreement, the global financial institution will gather examples of effective urbanization worldwide for Chinese planners to study and improve.

Urban investment and an export boom have fueled the nation's rapid economic expansion, but the country is shifting toward domestic consumption to fuel future growth.

The government has pledged to stimulate domestic consumption in the 2011-15 period, and urbanization is a key part of this strategy.

"China and the US can strengthen investment in many areas, and China can especially learn from the US on urbanization," Wu said.

Foreign direct investment in China dropped last year by 3.7 percent from a year earlier, the first annual decline since 2009.

While investment from European companies declined by 3.8 percent, FDI from the US jumped by 4.5 percent, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

US companies are increasing their investment in research and development.

This follows guidelines, issued in December 2011, encouraging foreign investors to focus on research and development to boost advanced manufacturing, service and high-tech industries.

In the past few years, a slew of US companies, including Caterpillar, General Electric and 3M, have announced an increase in their R&D investment in China.