GO WEST Chang'an Blue Oak Venture Investment Co., the first company of its kind in west China, is set up on December 2 in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi Province. Blue Oak Capital Ltd. from the UK invested $50 million in the venture, which will fund small and medium-sized enterprises (MAO HAIFENG)

Uniform Message

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on December 3 that the country's mobile operators would set a uniform nationwide service fee of 0.10 yuan ($0.02) for short text messages next year.

Analysts say the move is aimed at establishing a fair and open telecommunications market, which is the world's largest in terms of users.

The operators will cancel their various mobile short message fee packages as of January 1. The uniform price for short messages will take effect on January 15, the ministry said.

Under the current fee packages, China Unicom Ltd. charges users 50 percent more if they send short text messages to subscribers of rival China Mobile Ltd., and vice versa.

Fair in Middle East

The fifth China Products Fair kicked off on December 2 in Amman, Jordan. Around 150 Chinese firms, whose businesses target Middle East markets, displayed their latest high value-added products.

The fair attracted businesspeople from Jordan, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.

"We hope to promote the China Products Fair in Jordan as a Middle East version of the Canton Fair since it could greatly introduce Chinese products to Middle East businessmen," Wang Xinpei, head of the Chinese delegation to the fair, told Xinhua News Agency.

The fourth China Products Fair was held in Jordan in August 2007, where businesspeople signed deals worth about $2 million.

Increase in farm purchases

The government will help stabilize the prices of agricultural products such as cotton and soybeans next year by increasing their temporary purchases, according to a recent report by Xinhua News Agency.