Tourists pose with cartoon figures at a park in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The park, inaugurated on Nov 8, was developed by retail chain Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd. Yang Bo / For China Daily

CNPC, Total enter joint venture with Iran

Iran signed a $4.8 billion (4.4 billion euros; 3.9 billion) natural gas development deal with energy giants Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp, marking the first joint venture with international partners since UN sanctions on the nation were eased in January. Paris-based Total will control 50.1 percent, with CNPC taking 30 percent and Iran's Petropars the rest. The deal, for the 11th phase of the offshore South Pars gas field, is still preliminary, with both sides signing a "heads-up agreement", according to Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Co. Total put the cost of the first phase of the project at $2 billion, with Total's share at $1 billion, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said on Nov 8. "It's definitely in the interests of the country, and now the partners, to finalize the contract," he said.

Merck opens pharma plant in Nantong

The world's leading biomedicine company Merck has opened a plant in Nantong, Jiangsu province, to produce pharmaceuticals on the country's Essential Drug List. Merck has invested 170 million euros ($187 million; 151 million) in the Nantong pharmaceutical plant. "By dedicating the largest manufacturing plant outside Europe to the production of pharmaceuticals to address widespread health care needs in China, Merck is connected to China more than ever," said Mark Horn, managing director of Merck's biopharma business in China.

Tianjin Airlines unveils new London route

China's Tianjin Airlines on Nov 8 announced a new flight from London to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, starting in May. The new service will use Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with 18 business class and 242 economy class seats. Total flight time to Xi'an is around 10 hours. The plane will then continue to Tianjin. The airline, which launched its first British route from London Gatwick airport in June, will also increase its twice-weekly service to three flights per week, next summer. The service currently departs every Wednesday and Saturday from Gatwick, arriving in China the following day.

Sri Lanka sees 13.7% tourist growth

Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka rose by 13.7 percent in October year-on-year, with the Indian and Chinese markets recording a commendable growth, data from the country's Tourism Department showed on Nov 8. More than 20,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last month, up 19.8 percent from the same period last year. Indian tourist arrivals were 36,471 in October, a 19.3 percent increase year-on-year. Tourist arrivals in the first 10 months of this year have risen 14.6 percent to over 1.65 million.

Chinese company helps Ethiopian school

A Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer is helping an Ethiopian primary school with a water cellar project to address a water shortage. The project harnesses rainwater for the Oda Nebee Primary School in Ethiopia's Oromia Regional State, about 30 kilometers south of Addis Ababa.Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group provided funding for the project through the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, a Chinese NGO that focuses on charitable initiatives. The project at the school will be used as a demonstration for local farmers, encouraging them to scale up the technology in the area. The Oda Nebee Primary School cellar project is a pilot of 50 cellar projects that the machinery company intends to build in different parts of Ethiopia for communities with difficulty in getting access to water.

Sino-Hydro signs to build Harare dam

Chinese contractor Sino-Hydro has signed an agreement with the Zimbabwean government for the construction of a new dam northeast of Harare that will augment supplies from four other reservoirs that can't cope with demand, according to Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri. News agency New Ziana was told on Nov 9 that an environmental impact assessment will be done before the construction begins on Kunzvi Dam, 67 km outside the city. The estimated initial cost of the dam is $400 million (363 million euros; 323 million), but all major works including laying a pipeline and building new waterworks will push the bill as high as $900 million.

China, Russia cooperate on new logistics center

Russian Railways and a Chinese port have signed an agreement to jointly develop an international logistics center in Moscow. According to the document inked earlier in November, the Yingkou Port Group Corp will buy a 49 percent stake in the Bely Rast Terminal Logistics Center of Russian Railways. Under the agreement, the two companies will invest a total of 18 billion roubles ($283 million; 257 million euros; 229 million) to build the logistics center into the largest in Moscow. As part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Yingkou Port, located in Liaoning province, will have rail routes to cities including Moscow and Warsaw, Poland.

Sino-CEEF Holding gets underway officially

The Sino-CEEF Holding Co officially started on Nov 6, according to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender. The new company is a new platform for economic cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European nations, and is invested in solely by ICBC Asia, a subsidiary of ICBC. Sino-CEEF will start a fund to focus on investment cooperation in infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing and mass consumption industries, said Jiang Jianqing, head of the company. Several Central European countries, companies and financial organizations have shown interest in investing in the fund, Jiang said, adding that the size of the fund is expected to reach 10 billion euros (around $11 billion; 9 billion).

Leading data center operator makes debut

GDS Holdings, a leading Chinese high-performance data center operator and services provider, joined the Nasdaq on Nov 3, seeking financing to support China's growing internet data center industry. GDS is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market, where US tech giants Apple, Amazon and Facebook and China's Baidu and JD.com are traded. For its IPO, GDS will sell 19.25 million US Depositary Shares at $10 per share. The company is expected to raise about $200 million (181 million euros; 162 million) from investors. It is the highest financing volume for a Chinese tech company pursuing an IPO in the United States this year, said Yeeli Hua Zheng, Nasdaq's chief representative for China.

Huawei backs tech education in Cambodia

Chinese technology giant Huawei signed two memorandums of understanding with Cambodia on Nov 9 to support information and communications technology education in the country. The first MOU - "Seeds for the Future" - was signed by Lyu Qing Chen, chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies (Cambodia), and Hun Many, president of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia. The second deal, on e-education and ICT talent development, was inked by Lyu and Chet Chealy, rector of the state-run Royal University of Phnom Penh. Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo presided over the signing ceremony, which was held at the university.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/11/2016 page24)