HARVEST SHOW: Visitors look at exhibits at an agriculture trade fair held in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on October 13. A total of 816 exhibitors and thousands of agricultural products were displayed (WANG SONG)

Sino-French Telecom Partnership

China Telecom Co., Ltd. signed a strategic partnership framework agreement on October 12 with France Telecom-Orange, allowing both companies to better complement each other's networks and services.

Under the agreement, Orange has agreed to allow China Telecom to extend Orange's IPVPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network) services in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to the subsidiaries of multinational Chinese companies.

Meanwhile, China Telecom has agreed to provide managed outsourced and field services to Orange's multinational customers in China to allow Orange to improve IPVPN services for its enterprise customers in China and other Asia-Pacific countries.

Railway Bonds

China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) auctioned 20 billion yuan ($3.15 billion) worth of bonds on October 12 to finance the construction of the country's railway network.

The bonds were split into two categories: 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) worth of seven-year paper and 10 billion yuan worth of 20-year paper, according to the ministry's announcement.

The State Council recently halved the income tax to 12.5 percent on earnings on the bonds issued by the MOR between 2011 and 2013.

At the end of June, the MOR's outstanding debt stood at 2.09 trillion yuan ($328.6 billion).

Fuel Prices Down

China announced on October 8 its first fuel price cuts in 16 months, a move that will bring down domestic prices from record highs and is expected to ease stubbornly high domestic inflation.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, reduced retail prices for gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan ($47.2) per ton starting October 9.

As a result, the benchmark retail price of gasoline was cut by 0.22 yuan ($0.035) per liter, while diesel's price declined 0.26 yuan ($0.04) per liter.

Since June 1, 2010, the NDRC has raised fuel prices four times following escalating global crude prices.

However, the price of crude oil has fallen remarkably since August this year amid the worsening debt crisis in Europe and the United States and fears of a double-dip recession of the global economy that sapped oil demand.

CSR's Overseas HQ

China's biggest train maker, China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. (CSR), will set up its Australian regional headquarters in Melbourne, capital city of the state of Victoria, said Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu.

The headquarters, with an initial investment of $5 million and 20 employees, will open later this year and serve as CSR's latest bid to bring China's railway systems to Australia, which wants to expand its railway network.

CSR's plan follows an Australia government announcement in August that it plans to invest up to 108 billion Australian dollars ($106 billion) to build 1,600 km of high-speed rail links in its eastern states.