Chongqing Chang'an Automobile Company signed an agreement on Wednesday with four IT companies from the United States to set up a joint venture in the IT sector.

According to the agreement, Chang'an Information Technology Co., Ltd, the joint venture, will first develop e-business for small automobiles, as well as the development and application of software for the Chang'an Automobile Company. In the future, the company will turn to developing diversified information technology.

The four US IT companies, IBM, CISCO, ORACLE and UGS will entrust the joint venture as their representative in Chongqing and the southwest region of China. The four UScompanies will also offer hardware and software products to the joint venture developing information technology.

The Chongqing company will also cooperate with the four US companies in training IT personnel.

IBM, CISCO and ORACLE are leading companies in the computer product, net product and data base sectors respectively. UGS develops three-dimensional software for the United States' biggest automobile enterprise + General Motors.

The Chongqing Chang'an company currently produces 250,000 automobiles and 360,000 engines annually.

(Xinhua 11/11/2000)