China and the United States on Saturday agreed to establish a joint working group to deal with animal and plant health issues in both countries.

The group is created under a cooperation document signed by Chinese Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin and his US counterpart Mike Johanns on the sidelines of the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

It's designed to "enhance bilateral dialogue, exchange scientific and technological information and promote cooperation efforts to further strengthen domestic animal and planet health regulatory initiatives in both countries," said the agreement.

The China-US agreement came after the outbreaks of bird flu disease in some Asian and European countries, resulting in the culling of at least 150 million domestic birds during the past two years.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2005)