A K10 million cold storage and fish processing complex will soon rise in Lae, Papua New Guinea. The project is the subject of Letters of Exchange signed between the governments of China and Papua New Guinea yesterday.

The documents were signed by Mr. Zhao Yanbo, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy and Mr. Valentine Kambori, Secretary of the Department of National Planning and Rural Development (PNG).

To be constructed at the old Lae Yacht club, the complex will have a processing workshop, a 220-tonne-a-day cold storage, a 15-tonne blast freezer and a 10-tonne ice plant with ice storage.

A nine-man Chinese technical team was dispatched by the Chinese government last month to PNG to do feasibility studies under an agreement signed late last year.

Actively involved in the projects are also the National Planning office, National Fisheries Authority and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Mr Kambori thanked the Chinese government for its active involvement in the promotion of the country's agriculture and fisheries sectors, which supports the export-driven economic strategy of the Government.

Mr Kambori also praised the Chinese government for responding to PNG's invitation for Chinese investors to develop the country's fisheries sector and other natural resources.

Mr. Zhao Yanbo indicated that, as one of the largest projects in PNG, the Lae plant marked a new chapter of cooperation in the field of fisheries between the two countries. He believes that the plant will contribute to the fisheries economy of PNG.