China, Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan signed an agreement in Changchun on Thursday establishing a joint venture that will operate a joint sea route.

The agreement was signed during the 4th Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo in the capital of Jilin Province, northeast China.

The service, which is expected to start trial operations next month, will run 800 nautical miles from Huichun, a key port in Jilin, to Niigata in Japan via the Russian port of Zarubino and the ROK's Sokcho port. The sailing time will be about 36 hours, or one-eighth the current time.

The ROK-based joint venture has registered capital of 3 million U.S. dollars. The ROK will have a 51 percent stake, with China, Japan and Russia holding 16 percent, 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

The four parties have been preparing to launch the transportation "artery" since a framework agreement was reached in September 2006.

Experts said the route would strengthen economic ties among the four countries and promote economic development in northeast Asia.

Currently, cargo from northeast China is first sent to Dalian in Liaoning Province by train or truck before it is shipped to Japan. The new route will considerably save transportation time and costs.

The new Huichun-Zarubino-Sokcho-Niigata route can accommodate 15,000-ton cargo vessels or passenger ships carrying more than 500people, according to the frame agreement.

Experts held that this would help China and Russia to export their grains, mineral and oil resources to neighboring countries at lower cost, while attracting investment and technologies from the ROK, Japan and Europe.

"The move is in the interests of the four sides and can promote trade and tourism of northeast Asia," Yu Guozheng, an economist with Changchun-based Northeast Normal University, told Xinhua.

The four northeastern Asian countries had already established their own economic zones around the Sea of Japan, and the sea route could greatly help promote the cooperation of these economies, he said.

The four sides would set up a council meeting to discuss and decide on the shipping business details, said Ren Puyu, vice mayor of Huichun.

Northeast China, rich in natural resources including coal and oil, is the country's traditional heavy industrial base and granary.

China is poised to rejuvenate this Rust Belt region within 10 to 15 years. Per capita gross domestic product in the region is forecast to reach 21, 889 yuan (3, 200 U.S. dollars) in 2010, up from 15, 318 yuan in 2005. The strategy of the Chinese government to revitalize the Rust Belt in northeast China also provides opportunities for economic cooperation in this region.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2008)