China's giant pandas arrive at Belgian airport
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E-mail Xinhua, February 24, 2014
A pair of giant pandas from southwest China's Sichuan Province arrived at the Brussels Airport at around 12:00 local time (1100GMT) Sunday.
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A pair of giant pandas from southwest China's Sichuan Province arrived at the Brussels Airport at around 12:00 local time (1100GMT) Sunday. [Photo/Xinhua] |
The pandas, Xing Hui, the male and Hao Hao, the female, are both four years old and are on lease from a breeding center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Liao Liqiang are among the welcoming group at the Brussels Airport.
Di Rupo expressed his welcome to the pair of pandas on behalf all Belgians, saying that the pandas represent profound friendship of the Chinese people towards the Belgians. Feel honored, Di Rupo promised to treat the pandas as good as being at home.
Liao said that he hope the pandas could open a window to the Belgians and people of Europe, from which they can get more acknowledges about China, the Chinese people, about their kindness and good willingness to get along well with the people all over the world as well as about China's road of peaceful development.
The pair of giant pandas arrived by charted DHL aircraft. Both are in good conditions. After the appearance at the airport, the pandas have left for their new home in the Pairi Daiza zoo, some 60 km to the southwest of Brussels.
Eric Domb, the founder of the Pairi Daiza zoo told Xinhua that under the support of Ghent University in Belgium, his zoo will set up a breeding research project on the pair of Pandas.
The lease term for Xinghui and Hao Hao is 15 years, according to the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas, the world's largest research base for the species.
"It's the first time that we have sent animals abroad for so long," Zhang Hemin, head of the center, told Xinhua earlier.
Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. About 1,600 live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while more than 300 live in captivity.
Known as China's "national gem," more than 40 pandas are on lease and their offspring now live in dozens of zoos in over 10 countries.
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