China and Nepal will jointly launch a border inspection mapping operation, the third time in history.

 

The two countries will apply the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to survey the border marks.

 

Li Qingyuan, China's chief representative of the joint mapping, said the major mapping work will be done by Chinese workers and then workers from Nepal will check the mapping data and results, adding that the final mapping result will be valid only after the chiefs of both parties sign to confirm it.

 

The Surveying and Mapping Bureau of Shaanxi, from northwest China, has been appointed to take the task and will form the main body of the China team.

 

The first batch of mapping workers are scheduled to arrive in the China-Nepal border area in April and all the outdoor surveying is planned to finish by the end of September.

 

The official said the final mapping outcome is expected to unveil by the end of 2007.

 

China and Nepal share a 1,400-kilometre-long borderline, along which there are 79 landmarks.

 

The two nations signed the boundary agreement in 1961 and carried out border inspection mapping in 1978 and 1988 respectively.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2006)