US telecommunications giant AT & T has entered into a co-operative agreement with China's State Planning Commission to develop the mainland's telecommunications industry.
The memorandum of understanding, formally signed in Beijing yesterday, was described by AT & T vice-chairman Randall Tobias as the corporation's largest co-operative agreement outside the United States.
The agreement, coming just weeks into the new US administration and a few days before Sino-US talks on resumption of China's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade membership, is being seen by many analysts as a demonstration of China's goodwill in allowing US companies greater access to its markets.
The signing of the understanding will also give a boost to China's chances of maintaining its unconditional Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trading status this year.
As Mr Tobias specifically pointed out at yesterday's signing ceremony, ''unconditional MFN is the critical foundation of two-way business relations and this agreement would not be possible without it''.
The US Ambassador to Beijing, Mr J. Stapleton Roy, agreed that the deal was clearly beneficial to overall bilateral trade relations.
''We strongly believe that the opening of China's markets to highly competitive businesses such as AT & T is the way to get our trading relationship moving in the right direction,'' Mr Stapleton Roy said.