China and Chile established on Monday a joint entrepreneur committee, which, under China-Chile mixed committee framework, will serve as a dialogue platform for the entrepreneurs between the two countries.

Addressing the founding ceremony, visiting Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said the establishment of such a committee could be regarded as a "historical event" for the bilateral economic and trade relations.

Walker believed the committee will play a very important role in promoting Chile-China trade relations, especially the ongoing negotiation of establishing free trade area (FTA) between the two countries.

According to the source with the committee, 17 Chinese enterprises including China Minmetals and Sinopec have become the first members of the committee. And 27 leading Chilean enterprises, which have very close ties with China, have applied for the membership of the committee.

Enterprise is the most active player in one country's economy and also an active participant and promoter for the transnational technological exchanges and cooperation, said Zhou Zhongshu, the committee's Chinese chairman.

Zhou, who is also the president of Chinese mining giant China Minmetals highlighted that establishing a dialogue mechanism is the common aspiration of the two business communities, which is also a pragmatic need to cement the bilateral trade relations.

According to Zhou, the committee members will hold regular talks and exchange business information on related issues. In addition, the committee will offer assistance and create favorable conditions to companies who are interested in the China-Chile trade business.

Statistics from Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that the two- way trade value scored an annual growth of 34 percent, surging from 1.26 billion to 5.4 billion US dollars, from 1999 to 2004.

Source: Xinhua