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Province signs agreement with China

Premier Brian Tobin signed a Memorandum of Cooperation today with the Ministry of Agriculture for the People's Republic of China. Premier Tobin was in Beijing with a delegation of fishing industry companies. The Ministry of Agriculture has responsibility for fisheries and aquaculture in China.

The agreement is designed to develop closer cooperation and enhanced awareness between respective business and industrial sectors. It will help provincial businesses gain access to the lucrative Chinese marketplace and provide them with a competitive edge over other companies in this largely untapped market.

In signing the agreement, Premier Tobin pointed to other successful agreements signed in the past. He said: "This agreement represents an opportunity to build on our relationships with our counterparts in China. The building of relationships is essential to doing business in China and this agreement will allow many Newfoundland and Labrador companies to access what will undoubtedly be the fastest and largest growing economy in the world."

The premier noted the importance of such memoranda, as demonstrated by the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed with Sino-Canadian High Tech Centre on Resources and Environment (SCH-CORE). SCH-CORE is a joint partnership facility operated by the Centre for Cold Ocean Resources and Engineering (C-CORE) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Since the facility was commissioned in November of 1995, 35 projects were identified. Five were to be initiated in year one.

Of these, several are at various stages of development including the following:

• - A joint marine geophysical project carried out by C-CORE and the Institute of Ocean Science, Qingdao for the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company.

  - An oceanographic project based on RADARSAT has been initiated by Seaborne Information Technologies and the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Qingdao for oil exploration offshore.

  - An emergency response system for environmental hazards has been initiated by Atlantic Nuclear Services in collaboration with SCH- CORE.

  - A waste management project (reclamation of solid waste) initiated by AGRA Earth and Environmental with Hainan Province and the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences.

  Premier Tobin added that in addition to these projects, two mariculture workshops were held in St. John's and Qingdao in 1996 between Canada and China which are resulting in business opportunities for Newfoundland firms. He pointed out that as direct result of the C- CORE/China initiative, AGRA Earth and Environmental opened an office in St. John's and now employs six people.

  Contact: Cathy Dornan, Director of Communications, (709) 729-3570.