Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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eBay Finds Local Partner For China Market
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=157BAD3:A6F02AD83191E1600408940D4976DBC79574F7DCC14957C0 Leading internet
auction company to close China operations, launch joint venture in
Beijing with Tom Online Internet company The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has suspended Australia's monopoly wheat exporter and the
leading Internet auction site, eBay, has found a local partner for its
China operations after struggling to penetrate the market. Claudia
Blume at VOA's Asia News Center has more on these and other business
stories from the region.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has suspended Australia's monopoly
wheat exporter A.W.B. from taking part in any U.S. government programs
and contracts.

The announcement came after an Australian probe found last month that
A.W.B. broke U.N. sanctions by paying millions of dollars in kickbacks
to Saddam Hussein's regime in order to secure wheat sales in Iraq.

But A.W.B. spokesman, Peter McBride, says the move by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture or U.S.D.A., will have little impact.

"The reality is, we haven't used the program since early 2004,"
McBride said. "The U.S.D.A. flagged this a while ago, and we have
discussions with them, and we're continuing those discussions. And I
should also point out that we voluntarily stood aside from using the
export program, and we don't see using it in the foreseeable future."







EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, left and and Tom Online Chief
Executive Wang Leilei shake hands during news conference in Shanghai,
20 Dec. 2006The world's leading online auction company eBay will close
its operations in China and start a joint venture there with Tom
Online, a Beijing-based Internet company.

U.S.-based eBay will invest $40 million and have a 49 percent stake in
the joint venture, while Tom Online will invest $20 million and
control 51 percent. A new auction Web site will be launched next year.

In a similar deal last year, U.S.-based online company Yahoo turned
over control of its China-based services to local partner Alibaba
after failing to break into the Chinese market.

In other news from China, the country's banking regulator has approved
the sale of an 85 percent stake in Guangdong Development Bank to an
investment group led by Citigroup, the biggest U.S. financial company.

Last month, the consortium signed an agreement to purchase a
controlling stake in the southern Chinese lender for more than $3
billion.

Citigroup will take a 20 percent stake and run the day-to-day
operations of the bank, making it the first foreign lender to directly
operate a Chinese bank.

Japan's export growth unexpectedly accelerated in November. Exports
rose more than 12 percent compared to a year earlier, helping the
trade surplus widen to almost $ 7.7 billion.

International ratings service Standard and Poor's says the economic
outlook for Sri Lanka remains negative, reflecting the high level of
government debt and security concerns posed by the unresolved conflict
with Tamil separatists.