China's Yuntai Mountain Scenic Spot established a sister park relationship this week with the Grand Canyon National Park in the United States, promoting increased cooperation in the management of protected natural resources.

Han Yueping, director of Yuntai Mountain Scenic Spot, and Stephen Martin, superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park, signed a five-year Sister Park agreement in Beijing on Monday.

According to the agreement, both sides would conduct geographical research together, provide mutual technical support for environmental education, construct a platform for the exchange of administrative and personnel training experience, as well as the sharing of general information.

Although the two parks are in many ways geologically and ecologically unique, they share common characteristics that bind them as partners. Both are refuges for unique animal and plant species, and both contain spectacular rock formations shaped over millennia.

The Grand Canyon National Park, located in Arizona, is one of the oldest national parks in the United States and was listed as a world heritage site in 1980.

Yuntai Mountain, located in central China's Henan Province, made the China National Natural Heritage Candidate List because of its unique geological land formations, rich natural resources and cultural relics. UNESCO bestowed World Geopark status upon the site in 2004.

The five-year partnership with the Grand Canyon National Park would help Yuntai Mountain Scenic Spot research and develop the best park-management practices, Han said at the signing ceremony.

(China Daily August 30, 2007)