The Ministry of Commerce says it has approved Geely's purchase of Volvo from Ford. This paves the way for completion of the 1.8-billion US dollar acquisition, agreed by the two companies after similar approvals in the U.S. and EU.

The Chinese government is supportive of the move -- the biggest overseas acquisition by a Chinese automaker. In March this year, Geely signed a deal with Ford to purchase all shares in its Volvo car division.

Geely's president Li Shufu, said 2.7 billion US dollars needed to complete the deal, would be coming from both domestic and foreign investors.