The ambassador said Romania takes China as a very important trade partner and will cooperate with Chinese enterprises in the western region in such fields as oil exploration, machinery manufacturing, lathe processing and agriculture.

When Romanian Premier Adrian Nastase visited China two months ago, he expressed the readiness of Romania to take part in the development of China's western areas, and a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two countries was signed during Nastase's visit, said Isticioaia.

In an interview with Xinhua, Isticioaia said Romania is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of hydro-electricity, and China's advanced technologies and valuable experience in building the Three Gorges Dam are well worth learning.

Romania established trade and economic ties with China in 1950, and is now China's fourth biggest trade partner in central Europe.

According to Chinese customs statistics, the total trade between the two countries reached 753 million US dollars in 2002, a jump of 113 percent from a year earlier. Cooperation between the two countries focus on textiles, timber, iron and steel processing, and the manufacturing of automobiles, machinery, electrical appliances and light industrial products.

Ren Hongbing, an official from the Department of European Affairs under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said Romania had many traditional technological advantages in the manufacturing industries, which was badly needed in China's western region.

Meanwhile, many of the Chinese enterprises that invest in Romania are from the western region, added Ren.

Sources here said that to boost cooperation between China and Romania, a series of trade and economic activities will be launched in September and October, including the regular meeting of the Sino-Romanian intergovernmental commission for scientific, technical and technological cooperation, and a China-Romania investment forum.