(Planetark, Nov 29, 2006) France's development agency aims to extend soft loans worth up to 150 million euros ($200 million) per annum to China in the coming years to help the country reduce energy use and combat climate change, its Beijing-based representative said on Tuesday.

Since setting up shop in China in 2004, the French Development Agency had inked deals to lend 130 million euros on preferential terms with another 52 million euros awaiting final approval, Olivier Richard told reporters.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a signing ceremony for the biggest of the loans to date -- 80 million euros to help electrify a rail line in central China.

"We expect to agree to extend loans totalling between 100 and 150 million euros per annum over the coming years," Richard said.

That would compare to outlays of around 500 million euros made by the agency to a variety of projects in Asia last year, said Roger Goudiard, the Paris-based director of the agency's Asia department.

While poverty alleviation featured on the agency's agenda in nations like Laos and Cambodia, where grants rather than soft loans were the norm, pollution issues topped the list of priorities in China.

The agency was working on getting involved with a wide range of projects to promote the efficient use of clean energy and improve urban transport.

Loans would soon be made to help fund a hydro-electric scheme in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing and a clean energy initiative in the central city of Wuhan, Richard said.

An unspoken aim of such developing lending, for France as for other countries, is to generate goodwill that one day might yield commercial benefits.

When French President Jacques Chirac visited Wuhan last month, he lobbied hard for French firms competing for a number of big energy and rail contracts. (US $1=.7608 Euro)
 
Source:Planetark