The governments of China and India on Monday signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) for cooperation in the arena of ocean science and
technology.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee (L) attends a signing ceremony behind the
national flags of China and India in Beijing June 23, 2003.
[Reuters] |
The signing of the MOU
would push forward Sino-Indian technological cooperation in the fields of
integrated coastal zone management, sea-bed resources exploration, polar
science, ocean energy, gas hydrate exploration, marine resource assessment,
seaweed production and processing, and satellite oceanography, announced China's
State Ocean Administration (CSOA), China's marine affairs administrator.
The two governments "considered that the cooperation in the field of ocean
science and technology can promote well-being and prosperity and strengthen
friendly relations between the two countries, and wished to establish closer
cooperation and foster friendly relationships between scientific and
technological institutions and personnel", said the MOU cover, highlighting the
historic significance of the two major nations' first ever cooperation on marine
affairs.
China and India started to establish contact in marine cooperation in 2000,
and the leaders of the two marine administrations visited each other that year,
an official with the international department of the CSOA told Xinhua.
The official said China and India had also agreed in the MOU to establish a
Joint Committee on Ocean Cooperation, which would consist of five members from
each country.
The committee would be responsible for "planning and coordinating marine
cooperation, supervising such cooperation" and "promoting new cooperation that
both countries are interested in", he said.
The MOU would enter into force when it was signed Monday and should remain in
force for a period of five years.