Italian businesses, mostly small and medium-sized ones, are trying to find more Chinese partners to tap the country's huge market.

"We, along with another 30,000 businesses in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, hope to expand cooperation with more Chinese partners who I hope will emerge during our stay in China," Alessandro Tesini, a local parliament speaker, said in Beijing on Monday.

The parliament chief was heading a business delegation to China, involving about 80 local small and medium-sized enterprises and several big companies. After Beijing, they are scheduled to visit Shanghai, China's economic hub.

The delegation members concern industries such as construction, chair-making, wine, fashion and municipal planning services. The Friuli Venezia Giulia region also features manufacture, timber processing, electronic products, metallurgy, ship-building and agriculture products processing, said Tesini.

The region hopes more Chinese companies will use it as a channel to reach the central and eastern Europe markets, said Giovanni Pavan, one of the delegation's organizers.

Trade between the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and China increased sharply. The region's exports to China surged from 77 million euros (US$99.61 million) in 2000 to 190 million euros last year and imports hit 110 million euros in 2003, up about 40 percent year on year.

Sino-Italian trade reached US$11.5 billion in the first nine months this year, up 30.6 percent over last year, according to Chinese customs figures.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2004)