China plans to open its aviation market wider to the outside world and is looking for more partnership opportunities with foreign counterparts, a senior official with General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said yesterday.

Li Jun, CAAC's deputy-director, made those remarks while delivering a speech at China-US Aviation Symposium, which opened in Beijing yesterday.

A Memorandum of Understanding on the China/US Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP) was signed by CAAC and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

Under the new plan, the USTDA will improve coordination of US private sector assistance for ACP projects, including financial support, technology assistance and personnel training.

A formal grant agreement for the ACP may be signed later this month.

The partnership came six weeks after US Federal Aviation Administration's administrator Marion Blakey met with CAAC director Yang Yuanyuan in late February. The two discussed cooperation in air safety areas, including flight standards, air traffic management, aircraft certification, airport safety management, personnel training and safety data.

The symposium, initiated by CAAC and USTDA, is designed to provide a forum for discussion on airport downloading, aviation safety, air traffic control, general aviation and corporate aviation markets in China. More than 200 participants from China and the United States attended the meeting.

"The symposium is a testament to the importance of civil aviation infrastructure in today's world," said USTDA Director Thelma J. Askey at yesterday's opening plenary session.

(China Daily April 7, 2004)