pm,china vice-president witness formal signing

Australia PM, China Vice-President Witness Formal Signing Ceremony On China Cooperation Worth A$10 Billion

Dow Jones Newswires CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- Australian and Chinese officials witnessed formal signing ceremonies for 10 deals, mainly resource-related, worth a combined A$10 billion as China's Vice President Xi Jinping caps off an 11-day trip in the Asia-Pacific region.

Seven of the 10 agreements relate to resources and energy, demonstrating the "dynamic relations between the two countries in this sector," Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement.

The largest of those is the formal signing of a previously-known US$1.2 billion agreement between Gindalbie Metals Ltd. (GBG.AU), China Development Bank Corp. and the Bank of China, which will underpin the development of proposed port and rail infrastructure at Oakajee in Western Australia state for its joint venture Karara iron ore project with China's Ansteel.

The project is expected to generate several thousand new jobs in the region. The China loan guarantees were first announced June 17 and had been expected to be finalized by the end of the month.

Gindalbie and Ansteel each own 50% of the Karara venture, which recently started construction and is due to begin production next year.

The Australian prime minister and China's Xi also witnessed a signing ceremony for China Gezhouba Group Co. (600068.SH) to cooperate with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) on an engineering and procurement role for the Chinese company at the Chichester iron ore hub in Western Australia state. Those talks were disclosed by Fortescue earlier Monday.