Australian Prime Minister John Howard Monday praised the agreement between Australia and China on the former's supply of liquefied natural gas to China's southern province of Guangdong.

Howard told top Chinese legislator Li Peng, who is on a weeklong visit down under, that it is a significant event for Australia.

Deepening existing sound economic and trade co-operation dominated Monday's meeting.

Li also met Speaker of the House of Representatives Neil Andrew, President of the Senate Paul Calvert and opposition Labor Party leader, Simon Crean.

The North West Shelf consortium of Australia was picked in August to supply 3.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for 25 years to Guangdong.

The Australian side expressed its excitement Monday over its largest single export order.

Howard said the project proved there is great potential in bilateral economic and trade co-operation.

The prime minister said he believes that China's entry to the World Trade Organization and its holding of the 2008 Olympic Games will mark the beginning of more rapid economic growth.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, said China is happy to see new progress made in bilateral economic and trade co-operation.

China is Australia's third largest trading partner. Statistics revealed the Sino-Australian trade volume reached US$8.9 billion last year, up 6.5 percent on the previous year. In the first seven months, it exceeded US$5.6 billion, a 17.9 percent increase on the same period last year.

(China Daily September 17, 2002)