The governments of Cuba and China on Friday signed cooperation agreements in Havana which will earmark 400 million dollars in Chinese loans for various projects.

The agreements came on the second and final day of the official visit here by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who made Cuba the fifth stop on a six-country Latin American tour taking him to Venezuela on Sunday morning after a day of rest Saturday.

The accords between the two communist-run nations are in areas including sports, tourism, education and taxation, according to a summary statement released in Havana, including 200 million dollars for telecommunications upgrades and 150 million dollars in loans to purchase Chinese-made television sets.

Cuba also offered its support to China's bid to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

(China Daily 04/14/2001)