China and Kuwait signed agreements on oil and gas and the environment Sunday, as Beijing pushes to deepen ties to resource-rich countries to feed its energy-hungry economy. Chinese President Hu Jintao and the emir of Kuwait, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, held brief talks Sunday and then presided over the signing of five agreements.
Among them are agreements on energy and Kuwaiti financing for a $24 million cleanup of polluted Bosten lake in China's heavily Muslim province of Xinjiang. Officials from the Chinese and Kuwaiti foreign ministries refused to provide details of the oil and gas arrangement. China has courted governments around the world in recent years to diversify energy suppliers.
"We attach great importance to advancing co-operation with China in various fields, including co-operation in economy and trade and politics," the emir told Hu as the two began their formal talks. The Chinese and Kuwaiti governments and two of their state-owned oil companies had engaged in intense bargaining in recent weeks over a long-stalled refinery and petrochemical complex.
The project by Kuwait Petroleum International and Sinopec Corp has been estimated at $9 billion, a sum that would make it the single largest Chinese-foreign joint-venture. Negotiations have plodded along for more than half a decade, and late last month hit another snag. Chinese environmental officials rejected the investors' preferred location in the southern city of Guangzhou, citing concerns over pollution.