China to send more investment missions abroad

China will send more business missions abroad this year to look for investment opportunities following a trip this month to Europe, the Commerce Ministry said Monday.

Beijing is encouraging Chinese companies to invest more abroad and says it is looking for imports of technology to help make its economy cleaner and more efficient.

Yao said he did not know details of where the missions would go but said they probably would visit Europe, the United States, Japan and Southeast Asia.

China sent a 200-member group of businesspeople and officials to Europe in February on a four-nation buying tour. The government says the group signed contracts worth more than $13 billion in Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Spain.

A group followed this month to look for merger and investment opportunities in auto manufacturing, textiles, chemicals, energy conservation and other areas.

Beijing has described the missions as an effort to expand trade at a time when the global financial crisis is fueling protectionist sentiment.

Chinese companies have been stepping up investments abroad despite global financial turmoil and have signed a flurry of energy and resource deals.

China has signed multibillion-dollar deals this year to obtain oil from Russia, Venezuela and Brazil. China's biggest aluminum producer has agreed to invest $19.5 billion in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Group.

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