Gas contract avails ties with Australia
( 2002-09-17 09:06 ) (1 )

Li Peng, Chairman of the National People's Congress, is welcomed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard at Parliament House in Canberra Monday. The top legister is on a week-long visit to Australia.[Reuters]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard Monday praised the agreement between Australia and China on the former's supply of liquefied natural gas to China's southern province of Guangdong.

Howard told top Chinese legislator Li Peng, who is on a week-long visit down under, that it is a significant event for Australia.

The Australian side expressed its excitement Monday over its largest single export order.

The North West Shelf consortium of Australia was picked in August to supply 3.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for 25 years to Guangdong.

China is Australia's third largest trading partner. Statistics revealed the Sino-Australian trade volume reached US$8.9 billion last year, up 6.5 per cent on the previous year. In the first seven months, it exceeded US$5.6 billion, a 17.9 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The prime minister said he believes that China's entry to the World Trade Organization and its holding of the 2008 Olympic Games will mark the beginning of more rapid economic growth.

It is learned that deepening existing sound economic and trade co-operation dominated Monday's meeting.