China, Netherlands to Expand Trade and Economic CooperationTrade and economic cooperation between China and the Netherlands has grown rapidly in recent years and the two sides have agreed to further strengthen their bilateral trade.Shi Guangsheng, minister of Foreign trade and Economic Cooperation, met with his Dutch counterpart Gerrit Ybema November 7 and noted the rapid development of trade relations and economic cooperation between the two countries. China and the Netherlands signed a memorandum on cooperation between their small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) in 1995. " Chinese SMEs are willing to intensify cooperation with their Dutch counterparts," he said, adding that this is an important part of Sino-foreign economic and trade cooperation. Shi also briefed the guests on China's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), China's absorption of overseas investment in the coming years and China's progress in entering the World Trade Organization. Ybema said economic and trade cooperation between the Netherlands and China has always been "pleasant, positive and constructive". Bilateral trade volume between reached 5.894 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 32.9 percent from the same period last year. During the past three to four years, the Netherlands has set up 7 trade representative offices in China, which have helped boost cooperation between Chinese and Dutch SMEs. |
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