| Pact signed to set up economic zone in Vietnam |
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China and Vietnam Wednesday signed an agreement to build an economic and trade cooperation zone in Haiphong, the third largest city in the Southeast Asian country.
![Premier Wen Jiabao welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, October 22, 2008. [China Daily]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20081023/000802ab80120a6a568604.jpg "Premier Wen Jiabao welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, October 22, 2008. [China Daily]") |
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Premier Wen Jiabao welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, October 22, 2008. [China Daily] |
The zone will be modeled on Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone and the leading city in its reforms.
The mayors of Shenzhen and Haiphong signed the agreement in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to build the 800-hectare China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation zone.
The pact was inked after Premier Wen Jiabao held an hour-long meeting with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The foundation for the zone will be laid in December, and the cost of its infrastructure construction will be about US$200 million. More than 170 companies are likely to set up shop there, investing up to US$5 billion.
The zone will be divided into two parts, with one for light industries, including apparel and electronics, and the other dedicated to sectors such as logistics.
The idea of setting up such an economic zone was reportedly mooted during President Hu Jintao's visit to Vietnam in 2006. Later, Shenzhen designated Vietnam as a favored investment destination.
The two sides inked seven other agreements, including one on preferential loan from the Export-Import Bank of China to Vietnam and another on a strategic cooperation between China's third largest oil company, China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Petro Vietnam. The two sides agreed to set up a hotline, too, linking leaders of the two neighbors.
At his meeting with President Hu Jintao, Dung said his country would follow the spirit of "comrades plus brothers" in seeking a permanent solution to the territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Hu and Wen held talks with visiting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, too. The two countries signed two documents of cooperation on technology innovation and to fight climate change.
China's top leaders will have a busier day today. Hu and Wen will hold up to 15 bilateral meetings with visiting foreign VIPs as world leaders start arriving in Beijing for the two-day 7th Asia-Europe Meeting, which begins on Friday.
(China Daily October 23, 2008)
Submitted by The Great Revealer on Thu, 2008-10-23 07:27
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China and Singapore on Thursday signed a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) ahead of the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in Beijing on Oct. 24-25.
The signing of the FTA was witnessed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who kicked off his China visit on Wednesday afternoon.
Negotiations for the China-Singapore FTA began in October 2006.
Previous reports said the FTA covers trade in goods, rules of origin, trade remedies, trade in services, movement of natural persons, investment, customs procedures, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and economic cooperation.
Trade between the two countries reached US$47.15 billion in 2007. Singapore is China's eighth largest trade partner and the seventh largest investor.
Wen Jiabao said during his meeting with Lee Hsien Loong prior to the signing of the FTA Thursday morning that the pact signals a leap forward in the bilateral ties between the two countries.
He said relations between China and Singapore had always been friendly, cooperative and creative.
Lee Hsien Loong agreed that the growth of the bilateral relations between the two sides, especially the FTA, was "a testimony of the strength of our relationship and reflects our intention to broaden our exchanges and ties," he said.
He said the ASEM is held during major development in the financial sector worldwide, and provides "opportunities to exchange wills in the instable environment."
"It is important for Asian countries to work together, exchange wills, and maintain the dynamic and stamina which characterise the past decades of Asia development," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2008)