The third joint border survey will be launched by China and Nepal in mid-April, Baima Chilin, vice chairman of the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said Saturday.

Baima Chilin made the remark when addressing the personnel who will take part in the operation.

The Surveying and Mapping Bureau of Shaanxi, in northwest China, has been appointed to take the task and will form the main body of the China team. The survey is expected to conclude in September.

The two countries will apply the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to survey border markers, and use the Geographic Information System (GIS) to draft a new protocol on the joint border survey.

A total of 98 pillars with 79 numbers have been set up along the 1,400-km-long borderline shared by China and Nepal.

China and Nepal signed a boundary treaty in 1961 and demarcated the border in 1963, then carried out joint border surveys in 1979 and 1988 respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2006)