II. Trade Relations & Economic-Technological Cooperation

In 1980, the Sino-Danish Mixed Committee of Trade and Economic Cooperation was established and the bilateral trade expanded by leaps and bounds over recent years. The trade volume from 1992 to 1995 was doubled, rising from about US$ 300 million to US$ 600 million. According to the statistics from China's General Administration of Customs, the total trade volume between the two countries in 2000 amounted to US$ 1.334 billion over the previous year, of which China export reached US$ 782 million and import US$ 552 million, increasing by 27.1% and 38% respectively over 1999. China's major export commodities to Denmark are: clothing, textiles, plastic products, shoes, pharmaceuticals, toys, decorative pottery, bags & cases. China's major import commodities from Denmark include: ships, food processing machinery, chemical fertilizer, instruments, electricity generators & converters, components of diesel locomotives and refrigerating equipments.

Denmark began to invest directly in China in 1982. In 2000, there are about 10 Danish investment projects in China, with a contractual volume of about US$ 110 million and an implemented volume of US$ 46.02 million, covering areas such as medicine, dairy products, furniture, transportation and environmental protection. The major Sino-Danish joint-ventures are: China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. Ltd., Beijing Dongzhimen International Apartment Co. Ltd. (East Lake Villas), Beijing Shou-Dan Furniture Co. Ltd., Novo Nordisk A/S, Novo Nordisk (China) Biotechnology Co. Ltd., etc.

Denmark was among the first Western countries that provided China government loans. The two sides signed the first agreement on loans in April 1982, and by the end of 2000, Denmark provided China with government loans worth of US$ 540 million funding 100 projects in the fields of wind-power electricity generation, urban water supply, sewage treatment, central heating, medical treatment & health, food processing, cement and foundry.