China and Thailand signed 10 agreements on bilateral economic cooperation in energy, mining, food, retailing and other fields at a China-Thailand Investment Seminar here Friday.

Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu and visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attended the signing ceremony.

According to the agreements, the Thailand-based Redbull soft drink company will set up new factories in central China's Hubei Province, and the Banpu Group of Thailand will participate in a coal mine project in central China's Henan Province.

Thailand-based Chia Tai Group will establish two large-scale supermarkets in southern China's Guangdong Province.

Expansion of exchanges and cooperation between China and Thailand will bring benefit to the two peoples, said Wan Jifei, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), at the seminar.

Thailand receives most direct investment from China among all Southeast Asian countries, Wan said.

In 2004 bilateral trade reached 17.3 billion US dollars, including 11.5 billion US dollars of China's imports, according to CCPIT.

In the first three months of this year, bilateral trade jumped 25.9 percent year on year to 4.78 billion US dollars, CCPIT figures show.

Source: Xinhua