Nation inks 25 deals with Ontario

China and Canada’s Ontario province have inked 25 deals worth almost C$600 million ($472 million), mainly in technology, e-commerce, finance and healthcare sectors, as the two countries continue to deepen economic and trade ties.

Highlights of the signed deals included technology giant Tencent’s cooperation with Ontario’s OTT Financial Group to build a business accelerator center in Toronto and to develop the tech company’s cloud market, as well as China CITIC Bank’s agreement to provide education services to Ontario’s U Education Group.

“Partnerships with international leaders like China are

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Railway network to be expanded

China will expand the railway network to 150,000 kilometers by 2020, including 30,000 km of high-speed railway, according to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for railway construction issued by the nation’s top economic regulator on Friday. The network is expected to cover all cities with a population of more than 200,000 residents. The high-speed railway network is expected to connect more than 80 percent of China’s major cities, according to critical to Ontario’s economic success,” said Kathleen Wynne, premier of Ontario, Canada’s largest province by population and economy.

“Ontario’s diverse and innovative economy makes it one of the best, most competitive places in the world to invest, and we encourage Chinese businesses to take advantage of what Ontario has to offer,” she said.

In 2016, China was Canada’s second largest trading partner and its second largest source of imported merchandise.

Ontario’s trade with China has surged by nearly 40 percent over the past five years, totaling C$42 billion in 2016.

Science and technology are two priority areas of cooperation. In these sectors, bilateral trade between China and Ontario accounted for 42 percent the plan issued by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Chinese consumers more confident Chinese consumers are more confident and savvy with regard to their choice of brands and products, according to a report released by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. The report was based on a survey of 10,000 consumers aged 18 to 65 across 44 cities and seven rural villages and towns in the country. of the total, according to the Ontario government.

Lepu Medical Technology Co signed an agreement with Ontario’s Communication & Power Industries, valued at C$2.85 million, under which the latter would supply Lepu with a high-voltage generator product — a key component in angiography and cardiovascular X-ray systems for medical applications.

“Ontario spends about C$50-55 billion every year to strengthen the medical sector,” Michael Chan, Ontario’s minister for international trade, told China Daily.

“It’s good to reach out to the world including China. As Chinese population is aging, there’s tremendous potential for Ontario and China to collaborate in bioscience, medical devices and healthcare.” Yuan strengthens against US dollar The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 211 basis points to 6.581 against the US dollar on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.