Indonesia and Germany signed  in Jakarta Monday an agreement on cooperation to build tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, where a powerful earthquake on Dec. 26 sent tsunami to Indonesia's Aceh Province, leaving at least 220,000 people dead or missing.

The agreement was signed by Indonesian Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman and visiting German Minister of Education Edelgard Bulmahn.

"I'm very pleased that Indonesia has chosen Germany's tsunami early warning concept which is designed using modern technology by the German government," Bulmahn was quoted by Detik.com online news service as saying.

Bulmahn said that the German designed system is able to supply data very quickly and give an early warning of tsunami.

The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of a workshop on global telecommunication system among countries near the Indian Ocean hosted by the Indonesian Geophysics and Meteorology Agency.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2005)