The Chinese and Philippine governments on February 26 signed in Manila a US$400 million loan agreement on a railway project to promote economic development north of Metro Manila.

"The project aims to provide an effective transport system in central and northern Luzon (in the northern Philippines), including a modern computer railway system, and promote the economic development in the region," Philippine Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong said at the signing ceremony in the Philippine presidential palace.

Amatong, who signed the loan agreement with Yang Zilin, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of China, expressed the gratitude to the Chinese government for its efforts in making the project possible and helping improve the living standard of the Filipinos in the area.

Wang Chungui, Chinese ambassador to Manila, congratulated on the successful signing of the loan agreement, and assured the Philippine people that the project contractor Chinese Machinery and Equipment Group Corp. "has the capability to fulfill the task with high efficiency and high quality."

The railway project, which, with a length of about 32 km, will stretch from Caloocan, Metro Manila to Malolos, the capital of the northern Philippine province of Bulacan, is the biggest Chinese loan project in the Philippines up till now.

The Caloocan-Malolos segment is Phase I, Section I of the Northrail Project, which was approved by the Philippine Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee with the total project of US$503 million in December 2003.

Also present at the signing ceremony were Philippine Secretary of Executive Alberto Romulo, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Delia Albert and Chinese Embassy Economic and Commerce Counselor Yu Shizhong and other Chinese and Philippine officials.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2004)