Investment promotion pact with Canada near

BEIJING - The long-stalled negotiation of a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) between China and Canada is expected to be rounded off "very soon", which will significantly boost their trade, officials from both countries say.

China and Canada have reached consensus and have only a few details left to be discussed by the Ministry of Commerce and its Canadian counterparts, Zhang Junsai, China's ambassador to Canada, said on Monday on the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting & Policy Conference held by the Canada China Business Council.

The agreement will be signed soon, which will help beef up the "comprehensive" cooperation between the two countries, Zhang said, without giving a timeline.

David Mulroney, ambassador of Canada to China, said at the conference that the conclusion of the negotiations will be an important next step for the two countries.

China and Canada began negotiating the agreement in 1994, but made little progress for years.

Martin Cauchon, a partner in the Montreal-based law firm Gowlings LLP, said that the FIPA negotiations have gone through more than 20 rounds so far and a final agreement is expected within about six months.

The main objective of the negotiations is to guarantee a "high-standard agreement" regarding issues such as "national treatment, most-favored-nation treatment, minimum standard of treatment", according to the website of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

A government relationship is key to doing business in the two countries, said Cauchon. He added that the conclusion of FIPA will be a significant step forward for Sino-Canadian trade and investments.

Canada is shifting more focus toward the Asian market to expand trade, especially in the high-tech and resources sectors, according to Cauchon. There is large room for the growth of the mutually beneficial collaboration between the two countries, he said.

Canada's Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty visited China in November after the APEC summit and had talks with top Chinese authorities. He expressed his expectation that Canada will seek opportunities for more cooperation to further strengthen ties with the world's second-largest economy.

According to Ambassador Zhang, the bilateral trade value between China and Canada increased by 28 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of this year. "The whole-year trade value is likely to reach a record high," he said.

China's direct investment into Canada had exceeded $20 billion as of the end of October, Zhang added. Besides investment into natural resources sectors, China has also increased investment into areas such as technology, finance, tourism and education.

According to figures from China National Petroleum Corp's (CNPC) research arm, as of October, about half of the total overseas investment of $10 billion made by Chinese oil companies went to Canada.

CNPC Chairman Jiang Jiemin said earlier this year that Canada and Australia will be the major expansion targets overseas for the country's biggest oil company.