Briefly

China, Ecuador sign free trade agreement

China inked a free trade agreement with Ecuador on Thursday to further tap the potential of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Julio Jose Prado, Ecuador's minister of production, foreign trade, investment and fisheries, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments via video link, the MOC said in a news release published on its website. China and Ecuador will keep the markets open to each other with higher standards through the trade pact and foster a more favorable, convenient, transparent and stable business environment for enterprises, the MOC said.

Intercity railway sees marked progress

An intercity railway linking East China's Anhui and Jiangsu provinces has made marked progress with the completion of main structures on the line. The Chuzhou-Nanjing Intercity Railway connects Anhui's Chuzhou and Jiangsu's Nanjing with a line of 54.6 kilometers. Since starting building the No 2 bid of the line's Phase-II, more than 1,000 workers from China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd have spent some 1,500 days at work sites to build the main structures. The two provinces are also building another intercity railway to link Anhui's Maanshan with Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu.

CNOOC 2022 output reaches record high

Oil and gas production of China National Offshore Oil Corp reached a historical high last year and has further ensured domestic energy security, the company said on Thursday during a news conference in Beijing. Oil and gas production reached 120 million metric tons of oil equivalent last year, with domestic crude oil and natural gas production up by 3.39 million tons and 2.7 billion cubic meters year-on-year, respectively. The increase in crude oil production accounted for over 60 percent of the country's total increase, it said.