RIDING THE RAILS: The Zhengzhou-Xi'an Railway Express has started trial runs on January 25 and is expected to come into official use during the upcoming Spring Festival in February (ZHANG XIAOLI)

Energy Coordinator

The State Council, China's cabinet, recently decided to establish the National Energy Commission in a move to strengthen strategic policy-making and energy coordination. The commission will be headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, with Vice Premier Li Keqiang acting as deputy head.

Major obligations of the commission will include research and formulation of national energy development strategies, as well reviewing major issues concerning the country's energy security and development.

The commission will also be in charge of making plans for the coordination of domestic energy development as well as expanding international cooperation. It will also be the highest office in charge of China's energy issues.

The new commission will be made up of 21 members, mostly senior officials from a number of ministries and the central bank, as well as other government departments.

The establishment of the commission shows the government's commitment and recognition of importance of the national energy strategies, which are key to the country's economic and social development.

Most importantly, the move is believed to strengthen the decision-making powers of the government in regard to energy issues. The already-existing National Energy Bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission is reportedly having difficulty making a unified energy policy and lacks the ability to better regulate the country's sophisticated energy industries.

Liu Shangxi, Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science under the Ministry of Finance, said the commission represents a great stride toward restructuring China's energy management systems and will help push forward the development of energy businesses.

African Telecom Deal

ZTE Corp., China's largest telecommunications equipment producer by market value, said it signed a contract with Cell C (PTY) Ltd., a mobile telecom operator in South Africa, to provide telecom facilities and services worth $378 million.

ZTE will supply GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network turnkey solutions and operations services to the South African company. The project is expected to be completed in three years, ZTE said in a statement posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange website on January 26.

Banking in Viet Nam

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) opened business operations in Hanoi, capital of Viet Nam, on January 26. It is the first foreign lender from Chinese mainland to receive a banking permit in Viet Nam in 14 years.

Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of ICBC, said at the inauguration ceremony that the Hanoi branch is committed to providing strong financial support to serve two-way trade between China and Viet Nam, as well as the social and economic development of Viet Nam.

Diamond Market

China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second largest diamond market behind the United States with trade on the Shanghai diamond exchange rising 16.4 percent to more than $1.5 billion in 2009.

Xinhua News Agency said the year-on-year rise--with much of the rest of the world mired in deep recession--was due to China's boisterous economic growth in 2009, which reached 8.7 percent.

"As the economy continued to develop in a stable manner, consumer demand for jewelry continued to grow, especially for diamonds for the wedding market," Xinhua said.