Canadian Minister of International Trade Pierre Pettigrew has said that Canada is working on a trade promotion strategy to encourage Canadian businesses to re-establish their ties with the Chinese market once China turns the corner on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In a written interview with Chinese journalists Tuesday, Pettigrew said that Canada has long-standing and strong relationship with China not only in terms of trade but through thousands of Canadians who trace their family roots to China.

The government of Canada is coordinating a visit next week by Canadian health experts to China and they will exchange information and lessons learned from the SARS crisis with Chinese experts, he said.

On the trade relations between the two countries, Pettigrew said that China is Canada's fourth largest export market and more than 400 Canadian companies have permanent presence in China.

"We are looking forward to continuing to build on our already strong trade relationship with China," he said.

On issue of visa, Pettigrew said "Canada has not refused to grant student or business visas to Chinese citizens on the basis that China is a SARS-affected country and the processing of visas at our offices in China has continued during this period."

"We are confident that the present situation in China will notaffect future business ties between the two countries," he added.

Editor: Liao Ming