China yesterday signed deals for 20 A330 airliners worth US$3.1 billion from European aircraft maker Airbus.

The deal on the aeroplanes, which are scheduled for delivery from May 2006, was inked yesterday in Beijing after a meeting between Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Airbus also clinched a subcontracting agreement with China's Hafei Aviation Industry Co Ltd, which will produce parts for A320 passenger planes.

More than half of the 3,776 Airbus passenger planes in service have parts made in China.

"China is a very important and strategic part of Airbus' global picture. Airbus highly values co-operation with the Chinese aviation industry," said Gustav Humbert, Airbus' new president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

The Spanish prime minister yesterday also witnessed the launch of the Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Centre, the company's second largest engineering centre outside Europe after one in the United States.

The centre will design parts of the Airbus A350, a long-range midsize airplane to be delivered from 2010.

Closer design and manufacturing partnership with China may help Airbus win more orders in China, analysts said.

In addition to the big deal with Airbus, China yesterday also sealed a batch of agreements with Spain in a bid to expand co-operation in the fields of culture, trade, finance, transport and telecommunications.

Motivated by China's rapid development, the Spanish prime minister has put economic and trade co-operation at the top of the agenda for his three-day visit to China, the first since he became prime minister last April.

During the meeting, Wen expressed his condolences for the victims of recent forest fires in Spain, saying he hoped the local people would be able to reconstruct their homeland as quickly as possible.

He said China is looking forward to upgrading co-operation with Spain by establishing a dialogue mechanism, expanding trade and strengthening people-to-people exchanges.

He said China would offer co-operation in the implementation of the Spanish Government's "China Programme" and increase imports from Spain.

The Spanish Government issued a "China Programme" in May, aiming to strengthen its economic relationship with China.

It said the Chinese market would be given priority in Spain's overseas development and also promised to invest 690 million euros in China over the next three years. According to Xinhua, the bulk of the investment will be spent on developing trade and tourism.

Zapatero spoke highly of China's role in international affairs, hoping to strengthen negotiations with China on global and regional issues.

His visit coincides with the second anniversary of the founding of the China-Spain Forum for which he will attend celebration activities today.

Zapatero will conclude his tour at the friendly game between Real Madrid and Beijing Guo'an on Saturday.

(China Daily July 22, 2005)