Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC) Sun Zhenyu and Director of the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) Thelma Askey Tuesday signed an operating framework agreement resuming their long-suspended governmental trade co-operation in Beijing.

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 Online Automatic Monitoring System Project.

MOFTEC Minister Shi Guangsheng and the new US Ambassador Clark Randt, attended the signing-ceremony.

The Sino-US Operating Framework Agreement plays an important role in bilateral economic and trade ties as well as Sino-US relations, Shi said when meeting with Randt and Askey, noting that the agreement marks a new development in the two countries' economic and trade relations.

He said that maintaining good economic and trade relations not only benefits the fundamental interests of both countries, but also aids the development of bilateral relations at large.

Both Randt and Askey said they hope that the reopening of the co-operative programmes in China, initiated in 1980 and suspended in 1989, would contribute to the development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

The programmes will facilitate China's economy in a positive way, they said.

In response to media questions after the signing ceremony, Sun Zhenyu said that in the 1980s, dozens of TDA co-operative programmes in China contributed to the expansion of US exports of technology and equipment .

Sun added that the operating framework agreement and agreements on four projects signed Tuesday 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, the resumption of the Sino-US trade co-operation will inevitably boost the two countries' trade and investment, promoting their co-operation in energy resources, environmental protection and telecommunications.

(chinadaily.com.cn 08/01/2001)