SW China Province to Enhance Co-op with SE Asia in Mining

KUNMING, Sept. 8 -- An international mining industry trade center was established late last week in this capital city of southwest China's Yunnan province, industry insiders confirmed Sunday.

    Zhang Yaowu, head of the provincial land resources administration, said the move would promote cooperation in mining sectors between the border province and adjacent southeastern and southern Asian nations, including Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

    But details, particularly those about how the trade center will be operated, have not been decided.

    According to a research report produced by Kunming University of Science and Technology based in the provincial capital, Yunnan and southern and southeastern Asian nations are complementary in mineral resources. Iron, zinc, phosphorus and tin resources in Yunnan are needed by its southeastern neighbors, while their petroleum, natural gas, gems, salt and some nonferrous metals resources are demanded by the Chinese province.

    Although southeastern Asia boasts abundant mineral resources, cooperation between Asian nations in mining has been limited, and most of the investment in mining in the region comes from outside Asia, said Soulivong Daravong, energy and mineral resources minister of Laos.

    The region lacks a regional mineral product trading and related fund-raising platform, which has been a bottleneck for the further development of local mining industry, according to Bao Minghu, board chairman of Yunnan Investment Group.

    He said it is imperative to build an international institution focusing on consulting, information release and trading services for mineral products in the region.

    The establishment of China-ASEAN free trade zone and development of the Lancang-Mekong River subregional economic area have created necessary conditions for such a regional mineral product trading center to be built, industry insiders said.

    (Source: Xinhua)