Sino-US Operating Framework Agreement Signed in BeijingChinese Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) Sun Zhenyu and Director of the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) Thelma Askey signed Tuesday an operating framework agreement to resume their long- suspended governmental trade cooperation.The Chinese side also signed agreements with the TDA on the TDA- funded Shenhua Coal Liquefaction Project, Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Project, Shandong Environmental Monitoring Project and Petro-China On-line Automatic Monitoring System Project. Chinese MOFTEC Minister Shi Guangsheng and new US Ambassador to China Clark Randt attended the signing-ceremony. The Sino-US Operating Framework Agreement plays an important role in bilateral economic and trade ties and Sino-US relations, Shi said when meeting with Randt and Askey, noting that the agreement marks the new development of two countries' economic and trade relations. He said that maintaining good economic and trade relations not only benefits the fundamental interests of the two countries, but also aids the development of bilateral relations at large. Shi said he hopes the programs are operated well through joint efforts. Both Randt and Askey said they hope that the reopening of the cooperative programs in China, initiated in 1980 and suspended in 1989, would contribute to the development of bilateral economic and trade relations of the two countries. The programs will facilitate China's economy in a positive way, they said. In response to journalists after the signing-ceremony, Sun Zhengyu said that in the 1980s, dozens of TDA cooperative programs in China contributed to the expansion of US exports of technology and equipment to China. Sun added that the operating framework agreement and agreements on four projects signed today will certainly promote the development of bilateral trade and investment. With China's successful bid for the Olympic Games and its upcoming accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the resumption of the Sino-U.S trade cooperation will inevitably boost the two countries' trade and investment, promoting the cooperation in energy resources, environmental protection and telecommunications. According to sources, TDA cooperative programs in China, starting at the beginning of the 1980s and focusing on 45 items in 1980-1989, pushed forward the bilateral cooperation in trade and investment. For well-known reasons, Sino-US cooperation in this field was suspended in 1989. On January 13, 2001, the US government declared the resumption of the cooperative programs in China. The Sino-US Operating Framework Agreement and other agreements signed today will play a constructive role in the bilateral cooperation in energy resources, infrastructure and environmental protection technology, the sources said. |
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