Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Utkir Sultanov met with Wang Jun, chairman of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) Group, yesterday in Beijing.

They discussed co-operative projects CITIC has undertaken in Uzbekistan, including a construction project in the Kungrad Soda Ash Plant and an electric locomotives project that involves a total contract of US$70 million.

CITIC first entered the market of Uzbekistan in 1998.

Statistics advanced

After three years of effort, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Asian Development Bank, have jointly developed a scientific and standardized sample survey system for Chinese enterprises with annual production value of 5 million yuan (US$603,800), with the aim of improving China's statistics system. The NBS will first implement the new survey system in service sectors this year.

With the rapid development of small and medium-sized enterprises in China, the traditional overall statistical survey system was no longer suitable for surveys of small enterprises.

Special joint venture begins

Kyocera (Tianjin) Sales and Trading Corp, a joint venture between Japan-based Kyocera Corp and Tianjin Yiqing Group (Holdings) Co Ltd, officially started business operations on Monday.

Established in Tianjin in January, the venture will be the first trading firm to have received approval from the Ministry of Commerce to trade a foreign manufacturer's goods produced in China as well as imported from overseas markets.

Tianjin Yiqing Group holds a 51 per cent stake in the venture, while Kyocera holds the rest.

Intelligent CDMA phone released

Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co Ltd yesterday released the first intelligent mobile phone on the code division multiple access (CDMA) 1X system in China - Coolpad 688.

Guo Derong, general manager of the company, said the mobile phone has advanced functions like Internet surfing, sending and receiving e-mail and mobile office features provided on China Unicom's CDMA 1X network.

BMC unveils strategy

US-based enterprises management software solution provider BMC Software Inc unveiled its latest Business Service Management strategy in China yesterday.

According to BMC Vice-President Darroll Buytenhuys, the strategy involves service impact management, service and application management, and operations and infrastructure management. The company will also hold its annual BMC Forum on November 20 in Beijing.

SHANGHAI

UPS becomes forum sponsor

UPS, the world's largest package delivery company, joined the Third Forbes Global CEO Forum recently as the official "Supply Chain Solutions" sponsor. David Abney, president of UPS International, participated in the much-anticipated panel discussion "Made in China, Exporting to the World."

He believes creating an environment for free flow of goods in and out of China is critical to further boosting exports and sustaining economic growth.

WUTAI, Shanxi

Magnesium industry brings profits

Wutai County in North China's Shanxi Province this year has exported more than 5,000 tons of magnesium ingot to over 10 countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The effort has generated revenues of around 100 million yuan (US$12 million).

The county is rich in mineral resources such as gold, iron, dolomite, and olivine, with storage amounting to over 1 billion tons.

Over 200 million yuan (US$24 million) in additional investments is expected to be made this year to further the development of magnesium industry, a local official said.

BRUSSELS

EU requires safer car-front design

Automakers across the world will have to redesign the fronts of their vehicles under European Union rules adopted on Monday, to ensure that fewer pedestrians and cyclists die in collisions.

The rules make into binding law an existing voluntary agreement between the European Commission and global manufacturers. Automakers will not be able to sell their cars in the EU after October 1, 2005 unless they conduct strict tests on their vehicles, which are spelt out in detail in the new legislation.

"This is the only region in the world where this is done," European Commission spokesman Per Haugaard told reporters.

According to data from the EU Commission, which drafted the road rules, each year 9,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed in Europe and a further 200,000 injured in accidents with cars.

SEOUL

Microsoft to release online gaming

Microsoft Corp said yesterday it would launch the new Xbox online game service in South Korea next month, apparently hoping to benefit from the country's high-speed Internet penetration, the highest in the world.

Xbox Live, which allows several gamers to play together via the Internet, provides Microsoft a chance to take on rival Sony Corp and its hugely successful Playstation 2.

Xbox Live is already available in the United States, Japan and some European countries.

Microsoft's announcement comes a week after the International Telecommunications Union said up to 70 per cent of all South Korean households have high-speed broadband connections.

TOKYO

Private-sector salaries slipping

The average annual salary of Japanese employees slipped for a fifth straight year in 2002 in a reflection of the country's prolonged economic slowdown, the government said.

The average Japanese private-sector employee earned 4.47 million yen (US$39,982) as of December 31, 2002, down 62,000 yen (US$554), or 1.4 per cent, from a year earlier, a spokesman for the National Tax Agency said on Monday.

The decline followed a 1.5 per cent decrease in 2001 and was the fifth consecutive decline since 1998.

PARIS

French deficit to be cut

Finance Minister Francis Mer said yesterday he hopes to cut France's budget deficit to below 3.7 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2004, but added that he is against "brutally" slashing the deficit.

The deficit is expected to reach a level of 4 per cent this year - far above the European Union's 3 per cent limit.

France has irked some of its EU partners by saying that it does not plan to meet the bloc's rules until 2005.

BEIJING

Stake purchase

China's State-owned CNPC has agreed to buy ChevronTexaco Inc's 65-per cent stake in Kazakhstan's North Buzachi oilfield as part of a deal worth close to US$200 million, a Beijing-based oil official said yesterday.

The deal would boost the largest Chinese oil group's energy portfolio in Kazakhstan, one of the key strategic areas in China's drive to secure oil and gas assets overseas as domestic oil reserves decline and demand grows here at the fastest pace in the world.

"The deal was signed with ChevronTexaco in August, after CNPC had agreed earlier to buy a 35-per cent stake in the field from the Saudi firm, Nimr Petroleum," said the official, who is close to the deal.

Gas ops starts

CNOOC Ltd, China's largest offshore oil producer, said yesterday that the first phase of one of its largest natural gas fields has started production.

Dongfang 1-1 Phase I, the State-controlled company's largest independent gas field, has a production capacity of about 154.8 million cubic feet per day, it said in a statement. It did not give initial output figures.

With 12 production wells, the field is located about 110 kilometres offshore from Dongfang City of Hainan Province in southern China, it said.

Dongfang 1-1 is scheduled to be developed in two phases. Phase I consists of a central platform, a production platform and an onshore processing terminal, it said.

Property partner

Beijing Capital Land said yesterday it will soon finalize a deal with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) to jointly invest more than 1 billion yuan (US$120.8 million) in a residential property project in the Chinese capital.

City government-controlled Beijing Capital Land, which is Beijing's biggest developer, said it will be the majority shareholder in the 200,000-square metre project in the city's diplomatic district near the Third Ring Road.

HONG KONG

Huge IPO

China's largest cotton textile maker, Weiqiao Textile Co Ltd, said yesterday it had raised HK$2.12 billion (US$271.79 million) from its initial public offering in Hong Kong.

Weiqiao's share sale is the third-largest in Hong Kong this year behind stock listings by Chinese freight forwarder Sinotrans Ltd and toll road firm Hopewell Highway Infrastructure Ltd.

The textile firm said in a statement that it had sold 249.77 million new shares at HK$8.50 (US$1.09) each.

The retail portion of the IPO was increased to 50 per cent from 10 per cent after it was covered 118.6 times. The institutional tranche was significantly over-subscribed, the company said, without giving further details.

Licence granted

The Hong Kong government said yesterday it had granted telecoms carrier PCCW Ltd a 12-year licence to allow it to conduct domestic pay television programme services in the territory.

The new channel-based television service will be delivered over a fixed telecommunications broadband network, and subscribers may choose to take individual television channels or a range of channels, it said in a statement.

(China Daily 09/24/2003 page6)