Li Yong, China's vice minister of finance, and Jean-Michel Severino, CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD), on Friday signed two agreements on utilizing the US$300- million loans from France to support China's post-quake restoration and reconstruction projects in Sichuan Province and the Xiang-Gui railway electrification project in southern China, the official Xinhua News reported.

According to the State Overall Plan for the Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Restoration and Reconstruction, a US$200 million AFD loan, with 20-year maturity including a 7-year grace period, will go to the country's reconstruction projects of municipal infrastructures in six worst-hit counties and districts and rural domestic biogas units in 12 counties and districts in Sichuan Province.

In addition, a EUR 80-million AFD loans will be used in the Ministry of Railways (MOR)'s Xiang-Gui railway electrification project.

China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the AFD signed the Framework Agreement in October 2004 to provide China with untied loans of EUR 120~150 million each year, which are mainly to be used for global atmosphere improvement projects.