HIGH-SPEED CHINA The Guozigou-Horgas Highway in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region officially opens on November 26. The highway, the first of its kind in the Yili River valley, is part of the country’s western transportation network and involves a total investment of 913 million yuan ($133.7 million)

Economic Dialogue

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang announced at a press conference on November 25 that China and the United States would hold the fifth session of Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) on December 4-5 in Beijing.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will co-chair the SED as special representatives, Qin said.

The fifth session, with the theme of "laying the foundation for a long-term Sino-U.S. economic partnership," will cover such topics as strategies to manage macroeconomic risks and promote a balanced economic development, strengthening energy and environmental cooperation, coping with trade challenges, and promoting an open investment environment and international economic cooperation.

Gas Deal

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has agreed to sell China 2 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 20 years, the company announced on November 24.

The deal was signed between the European oil giant and PetroChina International Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroChina Co. Ltd., China's largest oil and gas producer. Shell did not disclose the exact value of the deal.

Part of the LNG supplies to PetroChina would be sourced from the Gorgon gas project in Western Australia. Shell has a 25-percent stake in the project, which is still in initial stages of development.

Aiding SMEs

The China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) announced on November 24 that it had initiated a 3-billion-yuan ($439.2 million) venture capital fund to help finance the country's SMEs in hard times. The fund will be set up by the end of this year.

Any industrial company with sales revenue up to 300 million yuan ($43.9 million) would be eligible for assistance from the fund, Li Zibin, Director of CASME, said in the announcement. Difficulty in raising capital has posed a major threat to the survival of the country's numerous SMEs, he added.

China's SMEs contribute around 60 percent to the national GDP, although they receive less than 25 percent of total bank loans.

Curbing Rural Pollution

The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced on November 25 that the Central Government was disbursing a special fund of 500 million yuan ($73.2 million) this year to help improve the environment of around 700 villages. The fund is expected to benefit more than 4 million rural residents, the MEP said.

It will assist in setting up water resource protection zones in the countryside to provide safe and clean drinking water to rural residents. The fund also will be used to establish either centralized sewage treatment plants or dispersed small-scale facilities in rural areas according to local conditions.

Green Transport

SAIC Motor Corp. will set up a venture with its parent company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., to make green vehicles, the automaker said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on November 25. SAIC will take a 10-percent holding in the venture, while its parent owns 90 percent.

The venture will focus on the development of hybrid and electric vehicles and advance the research and development of core spare parts such as electric transmissions and new power systems for the new-energy vehicles.

SAIC Motor had said earlier that it would mass produce the hybrid vehicles by 2010 with an annual production target of 10,000 units.