Jiang Meets British Petroleum Corporation Chairman 　　Chinese President Jiang Zemin January 20 called on Chinese and foreign enterprises which complement each other to engage in "in-depth and comprehensive" cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit in order to achieve common development. 　　At a meeting with Peter Sutherland, chairman of the British Petroleum (BP) Corporation, Jiang said the petrochemical industry is one of the pillar sectors of China's national economy and noted that the "Chinese government attaches great importance to developing the sector." 　　He expressed great appreciation for the successful cooperation between BP and the China Petrochemical Corporation. 　　Sutherland told Jiang that BP has established extensive cooperation relations with Chinese enterprises over the past 20 years. BP and the China Petrochemical Corporation have engaged in in-depth discussions on cooperation oriented toward the new century. 　　He said that cooperation will achieve positive results with the support of the Chinese government. 　　Sutherland attended the opening ceremony of an acetic acid processing plant Tuesday in the southwest China municipality of Chongqing. 　　The plant was established with a joint investment of US$200 million from BP, the China Petrochemical Corporation and Chongqing. The largest joint venture in China's chemical industry, the new facility will produce 150,000 tons of acetic acid annually. 　　BP merged with US-based Amoco in August 1998. BP-AMOCO has a market capitalization of US$140 billion and is one of the world's three largest petroleum corporations along with Shell and Exxon. 　　 　　 HomeNews 1999-01-21 Page1 Full Story in Chinese