BEIJING, May 12 -- The following is description of China-Austria Relations:

    I.Political relations

    On November 30, 1964, Chinaand Italysigned an agreement on mutually setting up representative offices for civil commerce in Romeand sent to each other commercial representatives at the beginning of 1965. On November 6, 1970, the two countries established formal diplomatic relations. In June 1985, the two countries set up its respective consulate in Milanand Shanghai. In June 1998, Chinaset up its consulate general in Florenceand in November the same year Italyput up its consulate general in Guangzhou.

    It has seen a favorable development of friendly cooperation in all fields since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and especially during recent years, due to the frequent mutual visits at high levels, the two sides have deepened the mutual understanding and promoted the development of the bilateral relations.

    In recent years, Chinese leaders who visited Italy include: Premier Li Peng of the State Council in 1996, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC Qiao Shi in 1997, Chairman of the NPPCC Li Ruihuan in 1997, President of the PRC Jiang Zemin in 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council in 2000 and Vice-premier of the State Council Li Lanqing in 2002. Persons of importance who visited China from Italy include: Foreign Minister Antonio Martino in 1994, Speaker of the Senate Giovanni Spadolini in 1994, Prime minister Romano Prodi in 1997, President of Italy Oscarluigi Scalfaro in 1998, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Luciano Violante in 2000, Foreign minister Lamberto Dini in 2000 and Prime minister Giuliano Amato in 2001 and others.

    II. Trade relations and economic-technological cooperation

    1>Bilateral trade cooperation: In the European Economic Community Italy plays a role of an important partnership in trade with China. In 1970, the trade value of the two countries was merely US$ 120 million. In 2001 the bilateral trade value came to US$ 7.782 billion, an increase of 13.1 percent as compared to that in the corresponding period of the year before. The year of 2002 witnessed the bilateral trade value to reach US$ 9.147 billion, hitting a record in history and a rise of 17.6 percent, of which the Chinese exports accounted for US$ 4.827 billion and the imports made up 4.32 billion in the US dollars. The major export commodities from China to Italy include: garments and attached parts, textile yarns, woven goods and products, shoes, articles and boxes used in travel and tourism, goat downs, toys, equipment for automatic digital processing and accessories, plastic products and medical goods and so on. The major commodities China imports from Italy consist of: weaving machines, cow and horse hides, TV displaying tube, metal processing lathe, rubber and plastic processing machine, medical goods, tobacco processing machine, moulder and swaging-box for metal shaping, TV sets, radio and wireless communication equipment and accessories, automatic-control equipment for metrological monitoring and analysis and other apparatuses.

    2>Bilateral economic-technological cooperation: It has witnessed a speedy development of economic-technological cooperation between Chinaand Italy. Over the past 20 years, Chinahas introduced in more than 1900 items of technologies from Italyat a value of almost US$ 9.5 billion. The projects invested by Italyin Chinacame up to 2000 in total at an agreed capital of US$ 3.2 billion but the actual invested amount was around US$ 2.2 billion. In 2002, the newly approved items for Italyto invest in Chinacame to 211 in number with an agreed foreign capital of US$ 250 million but the actual investment was US$ 170 million. Up to the end of 2002, the government loans committed by Italyto Chinaadded up to US$ 2.316 billion with 95 projects being implemented. The major projects include: seamless steel tube mills in Tianjinand Anshan, Light truck in Nanjing, Ligang Power Station in Jiangsu, Hejiang Chemical Fertilizer in Sichuan, South China Sea Petroleum Exploration, Coal-gas Making in Beijing, Zhongyuan Petro-chemical Industry in Henanand so on. The Italian side committed to present 62 items to China, covering mainly the training of personnel in the fields of science, education, culture and health.

    In April 2002, The 3rdsession on the Sino-Italian Economic Forum was held in Beijingand in October the same year, the 7thmeeting of the mixed commission of the Sino-Italian Economic Cooperation was held in Beijing.

    III. Exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, science and technology, education and military affairs

    There have established some 40 pairs of friendly cities and regions between Chinaand Italy, such as Shanghai/Milan, Suzhou/Venice, Nanjingand Florenceand so on.

    In the European Community, Italyis the 2ndmajor partner of Chinafor sci-tech cooperation. The two sides signed cooperative agreement on peaceful utilization, research and exploration of the cosmic space and the agreement on sci-tech cooperation was sequenced in June 1998 with a mixed sci-tech commission set up. In November 2002, the 11thmeeting of the Sino-Italian Mixed Sci-tech Commission was held in Rome.

    Chinaand Italysigned agreements for cultural exchanges and for the construction of the center for protection and conservation of cultural relics in Shaanxiand so on. Chinahas held "Exhibition of Cultural Relic Acmes of Shanxi Province", "Confucius Culture Exhibition", "Tibet Cultural Relics Exhibition", "Exhibition of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses" and "Exhibition on the Silk Road" one after another in Italy. In March 1999, the Chinese Peking Opera Troupe had a performance of the "Heroine Generals of the Yang Family" in Italy. In October 2000, the Italian Veruna Opera House put on its famous opera "Tosca". In November 2002, the Italian Piccolo Opera House performed the famous modern drama "One Servant Two Masters" in Beijing.

    The two sides through the government cultural program exchange 24 scholarships for students to study in each other's country. 2002 saw the Chinese students studying in Italyreached around 600 heads with about 100 sent by way of the government.

    The two armies of Chinaand Italybegan to have exchanges at the initial years of 1980s, ever having a period of suspended and completely recovered in 1993. Vice-chairman of the central military commission Zhang Wannian visited Italyin 2000, and in 2002, Vice-minister of Italian National Defence Salvatore Cicu visited China. The "San Giusto" amphibian landing gun-boat of the Italian Navy visited Shanghaiin 2001. The Chinese naval fleet visited Italyin 2002.

    IV. Important bilateral agreements

    Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Chinaand Italy(November 1970)

    Sino-Italian Agreement for Cultural Cooperation, Sino-Italian Agreement for Sci-tech Cooperation (October 1978)

    Sino-Italian Protocol for Cooperation of Space Science and Technology (March 1984)

    Sino-Italian Consular Agreement (June 1986)

    Sino-Italian Agreement on Legal Aid and Assistance of Civil Affairs (May 1991)

    Sino-Italian Agreement for Economic Cooperation (May 1991)

    Sino-Italian Agreement on Cooperation for Peaceful Utilization and Research of Cosmic Space (July 1991)

    Sino-Italian Agreement of Cooperation for Combating Crimes (April 2001)

    (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs website)