The United States and China renewed Tuesday an agreement on cooperation in science and technology as President Hu Jintao flew into the country for his first official visit.
The five-year extension of the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement will enable the two powers to continue exchange of scientific and technical knowledge and to work on joint projects, a State Department statement said.
“With this extension, bilateral cooperation can continue until 2011,” the statement said, as Hu arrived in the US west coast city of Seattle to begin a four-day US visit highlighted by talks with President George W. Bush on Thursday.
Areas identified for cooperation in the agreement include fisheries, diseases, agriculture, geology, civil industrial technology and disaster research, the statement said.
The agreement was signed at the White House by John Marburger, Science Advisor to President Bush, and Chinas Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua.
US-China science and technology cooperation began way back in 1979 and the agreement is among the longest-standing bilateral accords.
Source: Agence France-Presse
