Canada, China Sign Investment, Energy Agreements
Wed, 02/08/2012 - 9:32am Gillian Wong, Associated Press
Get today's manufacturing headlines and news - Sign up now!
BEIJING (AP) — Canada and China expanded cooperation Wednesday
with agreements to boost bilateralinvestment and promote energy exports
to China as Ottawa seeks to diversify its oil sales.
The agreements were signed during the first full day of a visit by Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who wants to push oil sales and closer
economic ties following President Barack Obama's rejection of a pipeline
carrying Canadian oil across the continental United States.
Harper, who is heading a 40-strong delegation of Canadian business leaders,
witnessed the signings after talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao.
"Diversifying our markets is a key priority for Canada," Harper said in
opening remarks to Wen. "We look forward to expanding our cooperation in any
important areas, including energy, natural resources, tourism and
education."
No specific details on the agreements were provided. Other agreements that
were signed included promoting science and technology cooperation, student
exchange programs and natural resource development.
Harper spent part of Wednesday selling Canada as a vacation destination
to China's rapidly growing number of tourists.
He spoke at a tourism marketing office in central Beijing, surrounded by
Chinese wearing cowboy hats — a bid to promote the Calgary Stampede, which
marks its centennial this summer.
Harper is due to meet with President Hu Jintao on Thursday before heading to
Guangzhou, the massive manufacturing center in southern China, to speak to
businessmen.
The visit highlights efforts by Canada to diversify energy sales. The U.S.
market currently absorbs 97 percent of Canadian oil exports.
Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in
Canadian energy in the past two years and hope to gain steady supplies to
fuel their country's booming economy. Chinese state-controlled Sinopec has a
stake in a proposed Canadian pipeline to the Pacific Ocean that would
substantially boost Chineseinvestment in Alberta oil sands.
Overall trade between the sides surged to almost $50 billion in 2011,
according to official Chinese figures. Chinese have also increasingly looked
to Canada as a destination for tourism and emigration.
Increasing energy exports has been a key theme of Harper's
administration. Canada has the world's third-largest oil reserves — more
than 170 billion barrels — after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Daily
production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase
to 3.7 million by 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to
build the pipelines.
Harper remains determined to build a pipeline to Canada's Pacific Coast
after Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have taken oil
from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast.
TOPICS
GLOBAL MANUFACTURINGCHEMICALS/PETROLEUM
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
No comments:
Post a Comment