"I am very confident that we will finish the deal. We are making a lot of progress," he told broadcaster CNBC in an interview from the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.

"We are working well with the U.S. and the EU regulators now toward finalising the agreements with them and expect to be finished in the not too distant future," he said.

China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) [CNNCC.UL] and Syngenta AG have proposed minor concessions to the EU's competition watchdog to address concerns over their merger plan, sources close to the matter told Reuters last week.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Susan Fenton)