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American Express International Inc., a leading financial services and travel company, says it is in negotiations with potential Chinese partners in Shanghai to set up the city's first joint venture travel agency. "Shanghai is a key business center and the demand for business travel services is growing," said Charles Petruccelli, president of Amex's global travel services division. "We are interested in offering business travel services to both local companies and multinational corporations in Shanghai." Petruccelli would not, however, say which companies Amex is talking to or when the new joint venture will open for business. The partnership will represent Amex's second foray into China. In February, the company joined with China International Travel Service to set up CITS American Express Travel Services Ltd. in Beijing. Amex owns 49 percent of that joint venture, which started operation earlier this month. Under its license, that joint venture is only allowed to work with corporate clients in Beijing. Since China joined the World Trade Organization, around a dozen overseas travel agencies have applied for licenses to set up offices on China's mainland. The country has approved 11 joint ventures with overseas investors coming from Japan, France, the United States, Singapore, Switzer-land, Hong Kong and Macau. So far, only two of the 11 approved ventures have opened offices, including Amex and Rosenbluth Inter-national, a Philadelphia-headquartered corporate travel management services provider. Rosenbluth International signed a joint venture agreement in December with China Comfort, the largest business travel firm in China, to create Rosenbluth-Comfort Business Travel Service Co. Ltd. "The increase in globalization and rapid economic growth of the Asia-Pacific market has mirrored the demand for greater business travel and travel management guidance in China," Hal F. Rosenbluth, chairman of Rosenbluth International, said in a statement. According to the existing stipulations governing travel joint ventures on China's mainland, overseas investors can hold up to 49 percent of the total stakes in their ventures. Under China's commitments to the WTO, the nation will permit overseas investors to control the lion's share of a joint travel service by the end of next year. As of the end of 2001, only 2 percent of residents on China's mainland had ever arranged business trips, compared with 18 percent of those in South Korea and 17 percent of Hong Kong residents, according to a survey conducted by MasterCard International.