Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd CLLZF

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https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aarDqn7kV9dA&refer=canada China and Canada to Double Trade, Boost Investments (Update1) Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said he and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin agreed to work toward doubling trade between their countries over the next five years and promote investments between them. The countries will seek to increase trade to $30 billion by 2010 and encourage investments including ones in energy, Hu told reporters at a press conference in Ottawa. ``We will open our markets to each other,'' Hu said at a joint press conference with Martin. ``We will vigorously expand mutual investments, especially in the areas of infrastructure development, energy, environmental protection, agriculture and telecommunications.'' China's state-controlled businesses have sought to acquire companies abroad as local oil fields fail to meet domestic demand and manufacturers seek a foothold in industries where they're weak. Canada, which has the world's second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, has been a target. Cnooc, which is 71 percent-owned by state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corp., paid C$150 million ($128 million) for a 17 percent stake in Canada's MEG Energy Corp. in April. China Petrochemical Corp., parent of Asia's largest refiner, agreed to pay C$105 million for a 40 percent stake in Canada's Northern Lights oil sands project. Canada earlier this year changed its investment laws to prevent non-Canadian investors from buying assets if the government determines the takeover would threaten Canada's national security. Martin began reviewing the laws after a failed acquisition of Noranda Inc., Canada's biggest miner, by China Minmetals last September. Some lawmakers at the time were concerned that a Canadian company shouldn't be sold to a company owned by the Chinese government, whose human rights record has been criticized by groups such as Amnesty International. Industry Minister David Emerson has said the law change has nothing to do with keeping Chinese companies from acquiring Canadian oil assets. To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at [e-mail] Last Updated: September 9, 2005 14:03 EDT