2011-02-24 15:48

TORONTO - Cooperation between China and Canada has yielded and will continue to produce mutual benefits and win-win results, Chinese ambassador to Canada Zhang Junsai said Wednesday.

"Our economic and trade cooperation enjoys a good momentum. This has brought real benefits to companies in both China and Canada," Zhang said when addressing the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

There has been continuous improvement and development in China-Canada relations over recent years, and yet bilateral cooperation hasn't reached its full potential given the exisiting opportunities in the two-way trade and investment relations, he said.vvvvvv

The bilateral trade grew 20 percent to $36 billion last year, but it was "only 1.2 percent of China's total foreign trade and 5 percent of that of Canada," Zhang said.

China's trade with Canada is only around 40 percent of that with Australia, said Zhang, who had served as Chinese ambassador to Australia.

China's exports to Canada amount to merely 1.5 percent of its total exports, while Canada's exports to China only 3 percent of its total.

China's direct investment in Canada takes up only 2 percent of its outward direct investment (ODI), while Canada's direct investment in China only 0.8 percent of its total ODI.

"China is the largest developing country. We have a huge population, so is our market," the ambassador said confidently, adding China's economic restructuring and upgrade will consistently fuel the world economy.

He noted the Chinese government has laid out in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) proposal that new energy, energy conservation and environment protection, new energy cars, new materials, biology, high-end equipment manufacturing and new information technology will be its seven strategic industries.

"These offer vast grounds for us to expand China-Canada cooperation," Zhang said, noting Canada, a major developed country, is also one of the major resource and energy powers with advanced technologies.

In the past few years, the Canadian government has been actively promoting the "Asia-Pacific Gateway" and giving more attention to strengthening its cooperation with China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

He said more and more Canadian companies are exploring the Chinese market, such as Bombardier, RIM, Manulife, Power Corporation and BMO.

"Their efforts are starting to pay off," he said.

The ambassador also stressed that China's investment in Canada has reached $10 billion, surpassing Canadian investment in China for the very first time.

"This is only a beginning, which shows Chinese businessmen are confident in and value Canada's sound investment environment," the ambassador concluded.