The agreement, signed in Beijing on Thursday by French ambassador Jean-Pierre Lafon and Chinese Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs Yang Yanyin, will set up a natural disaster emergency relief program and relevant training system in China.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the French ambassador said the French government would offer 20 million French francs (about 3 million euros) to help China build the State Disaster Relief Center under the Ministry of Civil Affairs and a disaster prevention center in Hubei Province, central China.

The program will use modern scientific methods to provide the State Disaster Relief Center and the Hubei center with disaster information from other departments. It will focus on emergency relief and disaster relief training.

The program also aims to make the Hubei center a pilot for disaster relief in China.

France would contribute computers, telecommunications and rescue equipment for both centers, Yang Yanyin said.

Both sides would also jointly develop a disaster information management system, and monitor the occurrence of serious disasters using satellite remote sensing technology, which would also provide essential information for disaster relief.

China is one of several countries in the world which suffer the worst from natural disasters.

In 1998, then former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin promised on behalf of the French government to offer free aid to help China's disaster relief efforts.

Lafon said the new French government would fulfill the former prime minister's promise to guarantee the smooth running of the program.

(China Daily July 26, 2002)