China will, as always, offer supports for Australian banks to expand their businesses there in line with Chinese law, said Vice Premier Huang Ju in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Huang made the remarks in a meeting with chairman of Australia's ANZ Bank Charles Goode.

ANZ Bank had achieved remarkable progress of its business in China in recent years, and increased cooperation with relevant Chinese financial organs, Huang said, noting that Australian banks were welcomed to join in the reform and development of Chinese financial industry.

China and Australia now enjoy sound development of bilateral relations, and share strong complementarity in financial fields. To enhance financial exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia is in accord with the common interests of both nations, said Huang.

The interim period of Chinese banks' entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) will end on Dec. 11. Foreign banks at that time would enjoy national treatment based on the commitment China made upon its WTO entry.

The Chinese government recently designed new regulations on foreign banks to fulfill its commitment on WTO entry. This was an important step of Chinese financial sector to fully open to the outside world, and would provide more convenience for foreign banks to build business in China, Huang said.

With China's continuous economic growth, further opening of financial market and constant improvement of financial supervision, Chinese and foreign banks would witness more fruitful cooperation, Huang noted.

Source: Xinhua