The overseas investment by Chinese companies rose 1 percent year on year in the first nine months against the backdrop of drastic decrease of international investment over the same period, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday.

Chinese companies did investment totaling 33 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters, despite global investment drop under the influence of the financial crisis, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency.

The trend represented Chinese firms' willingness to expand international cooperation, at the same time it also helped host economies to create jobs and boost their economic recovery, Zhangtold the China Overseas Investment Fair which opened here Tuesday,

China has emerged as a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows. Although the global FDI outflows dropped 13.5 percent year on year in 2008, China's overseas investment hiked 111 percent year on year to 55.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, said Taffere Tesfachew, chief of the office of the secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

"Today, we see Chinese companies, such as Lenovo and Huawei, both in developed markets and in many African countries," said Taffere Tesfachew, adding that their investment help create jobs and diversify investment sources for many host economies, including the least developed countries.

Around 1,000 governmental officials, entrepreneurs and experts from more than 100 countries and regions around the world participated in the two-day event.