Bidding for electricity assets

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) last week opened bidding for a series of national electricity generation assets, calculated to be worth at least 17 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion).

"The bidding invitation will encourage participation from enterprises of any category. Multiple rounds of evaluation, price bidding and negotiation will be conducted," the SERC said in a statement. "In the process of evaluation, the long-term future development of target enterprises will be taken into consideration."

The statement makes it crystal clear that both local and foreign buyers are entitled to make offers, provided they meet a series of stringent criteria.

Tariff reduction sped up

China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are speeding up the tariff reduction process to facilitate establishment of the free trade area (FTA), said a senior foreign trade official last week in Beijing.

China's average tariff on ASEAN countries' goods was slashed from 9.9 per cent to 8.1 per cent last year, while the ratio will drop to 6.6 per cent next year, said Yin Zonghua, deputy director with the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce.

The average tariff level will continue to drop to 2.4 per cent in 2009, and finally in 2010, which is the scheduled time for the establishment of the China-ASEAN FTA, 93 per cent of products from ASEAN countries will be tariff-free, according to Yin.

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