China to allow more agricultural imports from Taiwan

SHOTLIST 1. Wide shot of press conference room 2. Mediums shot of journalists 3, SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Zhu Zhigang, Chinese Vice Minister of Finance: "Here I want to make a responsible promise to the farmers of the country that the government will maintain the measures of direct subsidies which started last year and the amount will be raised in some provinces. As the ministry of finance estimates, the subsidy capital should be able to increase by 10 percent this year." 4. Medium shot of press conference 5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Du Qinglin, Chinese Minister of Agriculture: "Mainland China has a vast market for Taiwan''s agricultural products and by exporting the products to the mainland, Taiwan will be benefited in the development of its agriculture." 6. Cutaway 7. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Du Qinglin, Chinese Minister of Agriculture: "We should create better conditions for the export of Taiwan''s agricultural products to mainland China. We will discuss with our partners in Taiwan about detailed measures to be taken. In this regard we should intensify our efforts." 8. Wide shot press conference STORYLINE: China announced on Thursday that it will increase grain subsidies to farmers this year and allow more agricultural products to be imported from Taiwan. Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Zhigang told a press conference that China will increase the direct subsidies to farmers producing grains by 10 per cent on the 11.6 (b) billion yuan (1.4 (b) billion US dollars, 726,961 (m) million pounds) subsidised last year. Last year was the first time Chinese farmers received direct subsidies from the government for encouraging grain-crop planting. Official statistics show that last year China''s grain production totalled 469.47 (m) million tons, 38.77 million tons more than the year before - ending what has been a continuous drop of the grain production in China. Officials said China will maintain all the measures taken last year to continue to encourage farmers to produce more grain. Du Qinglin, Minister of Agriculture, said China will also allow more import of agricultural products from Taiwan this year. Du said last year Taiwan exported 116 (m) million US dollars (60 million pounds) worth of agricultural products into mainland China. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d94c23bd063a9c75596bb75a27916b3a Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork