Chinese and Romanian senior officials vowed Thursday to create better conditions to promote cooperation and exchange in information industry.

The pledge was made by Wang Xudong, Minister of Information Industry of China and his Romanian counterpart Dan Nica, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, who was in Beijing with Romanian President Ion Iliescu.

On Wednesday, Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer China ZTE Corporation signed a US$94 million contract with Romania's POS telecom, which will allow the Romanian company to use the ZTE's equipment and technology to build a nationwide telecom network in the next three years.

This is the first step the Chinese telecom company has made in Europe, introducing to Europe Chinese telecommunication technology, said Nica in his meeting with Wang.

The Chinese minister hoped both sides would cooperate to boost the expansion of Chinese information industry enterprises in the Romanian market.

Since Romania opened its telecom market last year, more than 900 companies have been permitted to enter it and some Chinese telecom players like ZTE and China Unicom have actively set foot in the market.

Nica said his ministry would actively assist Chinese companies to explore business in Romania, citing that a four-member special group had been set up to be responsible for coordination with the Chinese side and assessment of relevant projects.

Wang, on his part, said China and Romania could enhance human resource training and exchange because Romania boasted much high-quality technology and knowledge.

(People’s Daily August 22, 2003)