Text of report by Nancy Zamora carried Cuban news agency Prensa Latina
Beijing, 28 September: Rosa Elena Simeon, the Cuban minister of science, technology and the environment, today ended a four-day official visit to China, during which she completed a broad working agenda.
Simeon's visit was in response to an invitation from Xu Guanhua, the Chinese minister of science and technology, with the objective of increasing, in the areas under their jurisdiction, the traditional levels of the fraternal relations between both countries.
In a statement for Prensa Latina, Simeon described her trip as successful and stressed the climate of collaboration and mutual understanding that characterized her meetings with various personalities representing Chinese scientific institutions.
In a meeting between Simeon and Xu, both ministers agreed that favourable conditions exist to move forward to higher levels of cooperation with joint research projects, in order to obtain specific results which will contribute to developing both countries as well as others.
In addition, they agreed to work hard in that direction in preparation for the 19th Inter-governmental Meeting for Economic and Commercial Relations between Cuba and China, to be held in Beijing in November.
At present, there are 38 cooperation projects between Cuba and China through the exchange of experts, advice and workshops in various scientific-technical spheres.
In the new phase, emphasis will be put on bio-computer technology, seismology and biotechnology, among other sectors, without forgetting other fields in which both countries are already working.
Minister Simeon's agenda included a meeting with Song Jian, vice-chairman of the [Chinese] People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. During that meeting, they studied the possibility of making further progress in joint projects, particularly in the area of biotechnology.
Simeon also visited the Municipality of Tianjin southeast of Beijing, where she toured special development areas of advanced technology.
Simeon also met directors and experts of the state bureaus of Seismology, Meteorology and Environment, the Development Centre for Joint Projects in Biotechnology and the Academy of Social Sciences. (...)
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.
Tianjin's electronics industry reported gross profits of RMB2.53bn for the first half of 2001, with a gross profit margin of 10.33 per cent. The sector expects sales to increase from US$10bn in the year 2000 to US$30bn in 2005. Tianjin and Beijing accounted for a combined 56 per cent of China's total mobile phone production in the year 2000. Motorola Tianjin Co reported output of RMB16.2bn for the first half of 2001. The company produced 13m mobile phones in the year 2000, holding a 31 per cent share of China's mobile phone market. South Korea-based Samsung Group has set up a code division multiple access mobile phone plant as well as a research and development centre in Tianjin. The number of mobile phone subscribers in China reached 120.6m at the end of July 2001, ranking first in the world.
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