China announced on Wednesday that it would send two giant pandas to Denmark and work on giant panda protection. The announcement was made during the visit of Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen to Beijing.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Rasmussen held talks and attended a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday afternoon.
The two parties agreed on the cooperation in various fields including food and drug supervision and quarantine and panda protection.
This will be China’s first time to send pandas to Denmark.
“The Danish prime minister visited Chengdu to see the two giant pandas to be sent to the Copenhagen Zoo to live there for some time. But the arrival of the pandas in Denmark will depend on when Denmark gets (the Panda House) ready,” Chinese Foreign Ministry official Liu Weimin told reporters following the talks.
“The giant pandas, as messengers of friendship, will play a positive role to our bilateral relations," Liu added.
In March, the Copenhagen Zoo disclosed the design of the panda house. According to the zoo director and CEO Steffen Straede, the construction will commence in November and would be finished in about a year.
The two countries revealed a plan to enhance cooperation from 2017 to 2020 and decided to increase two-way trade and investment. The cooperation will focus on agriculture, fisheries, food security, health and tourism as determined by both parties.
“China hopes to work with Denmark to advance bilateral practical cooperation and guide the economic globalization toward more inclusiveness and fairness and promote liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment,” Li said.
For his part, Rasmussen said that the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership with China is a diplomatic priority for his country. He also welcomed Chinese investments to Denmark.
As a member of the European Union, Denmark supports the developments in the discussions of EU-China investment treaty and play a part in the EU-China relations, he said.
Prior to the talks, Li welcomed Rasmussen at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The China-Denmark relations have become stronger with the signing of cooperation documents including that of the giant panda protection.