BETTER SERVICE: A Long March 3A carrier rocket carrying the Zhongxing-20A communication satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on November 25. The satellite was successfully put into its predetermined orbit and will provide better satellite communication and broadcasting services (XINHUA)

Sino-Russian Deals

Representatives and financial institutions from China and Russia signed 13 agreements worth $8 billion at the fifth bilateral economic and trade summit in Moscow, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid an official visit to Russia on November 22-24.

The agreements cover a wide range of areas including trade, investment, mining, manufacturing, construction and telecommunications equipment. Of these deals, two financial agreements totaled $236 million, 10 cooperative agreements concerning the economy and technology were worth $5.3 billion, and one trade agreement was around $320 million.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov attended the signing ceremony.

Tougher Green Measures

China will beef up energy conservation and emission reduction efforts with more legal, technical and fiscal measures in the next five years, said officials attending the China International Green Industry Forum 2010 in Beijing on November 24.

The nation will make energy conservation more compulsory for enterprises, instead of simply persuading them to do so. Strict evaluation systems must be established and laws enforced to make enterprises accountable to the country's goals of energy conservation and emission reduction, said Xie Zhenhua, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10) was forecasted to fall by more than 25 percent, said Miao Wei, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology.

At the same forum, Wu Xiaoqing, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection, predicted that in the next five years China may double its investment in environmental protection to 3 trillion yuan ($450 billion).

UnionPay Expansion

China UnionPay, a Shanghai-based association for China's banking card industry, is expanding its footprint in Switzerland, an emerging Chinese tourist destination.

UnionPay and the biggest Swiss card-payment company SIX Multipay announced on November 22 a joint program enabling Swiss merchants to accept payments from credit cards or debt cards issued by UnionPay. The program, which includes payment system upgrading and the promotion of UnionPay cards among Swiss merchants, was launched in the Swiss alpine city Interlaken.

SIX Multipay covers 90 percent of card-payment services for ATMs and 70 percent of these services for merchants in Switzerland. Nearly 400 domestic and international financial institutions have joined the UnionPay network.

Canadian Investment

Canada invited China to participate in its Asia Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative (APGCI) program, which aims to turn Canada's west coast ports into major entry points for Asian goods into North America.

Launched in 2006, the APGCI program has received Canadian $3.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in investment. The project would be beneficial to China as Prince Rupert Port, north of Vancouver, was 1,100 nautical miles closer to Shanghai than any other North American port, said Stockwell Day, President of Canada's Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, on November 19.

Bilateral trade between China and Canada rocketed from $150 million in 1970 to $29.7 billion in 2009 and is expected to increase to $60 billion by 2015.