China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) signed an agreement in Beijing on Friday on archives exchanges.

Wang Gang, alternative member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said in a meeting with a delegation of the DPRK State Archives Bureau that signing such an agreement would further promote exchanges and cooperation in archiving between the two countries, and would improve the level of the work of archives of both countries.

Wang, also member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of General Office of CPC Central Committee, said the work of archiving is an important job to record history, carry on civilization, serve society and benefit humanity.

"China and the DPRK are close neighbors, and cementing and developing a China-DPRK friendship accords with the common interests of the two sides," Wang noted.

The agreement was signed on Friday morning by the State Archives Administration of China and the State Archives Bureau of the DPRK.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2005)