China, the world's biggest coal producer and consumer, plans to spend about 40 billion yuan (US$5 billion) by 2020 in coal reserve exploration throughout the country, a top energy official said last week.

The country hopes to secure about 170 billion tons of coal reserves, said Xu Dingming, head of the energy bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission.

The budget will be used between 2003 and 2020 to boost the nation's coal resources, said Xu, but he declined to disclose how much the country has spent up to this point.

CEPA co-operation

The central government will further open mainland markets to Hong Kong and Macao under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), Vice-Minister of Commerce Liao Xiaoqi said last week.

Co-operation between the mainland and the Special Administrative Regions is expected to lead to breakthroughs in areas such as intellectual property rights protection and energy conservation, he said.

"We will improve regional co-operation with the two cities. In particular, we will co-operate in the Pan-Pearl River Delta area," Liao said.

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