China's Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) Long Yongtu and Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami signed an agreement in Beijing Friday on behalf of their respective governments.

In the first of four programs, Japan will give 999 million yen to improve equipment in the Changchun Sino-Japanese People's Friendly Waterworks, which is a major water supplier in Changchun, capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province.

The second program will use Japanese aid to plant trees in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Tree-planting on 4,200 hectares there began in 2000 and will continue for a couple of years.

Japan will provide 489 million yen this year to help collect seeds and buy equipment for afforestation.

In the third program, Japan will provide medicine and medical equipment worth 402 million yen to help control tuberculosis in mountainous and poor areas in central and western China.

In the fourth program, the Chinese and Japanese governments will jointly launch a human resources project. With a donation of 363 million yen from Japan, China will send 40 people to Japan this year for administrative training.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2002)