Southwest China's Guizhou Province announced to cooperate with France's Lozere Province on exploring tourism markets and training tourism professionals on last Thursday.

An agreement on the cooperation was signed in Guiyang on last Thursday between a senior delegation from Lozere and the tourism authorities of Guizhou.

Yang Shengming, director of the Guizhou provincial tourism bureau, said Guizhou started cooperation with Lozere in 2001 when a local parliament delegation from the French province visited the land-locked province.

In March 2003, Guizhou University signed agreements with two French universities on launching a French-language training program in China, said Yang.

Jean-Paul Pourquier, who headed a 22-member delegation on a three-day visit in Guizhou, said he was impressed by Guizhou's improvement in traffic construction and tourism management.

Lozere, the least populous French province, is known for its picturesque countryside landscape. Tourism has become a pillar industry for the province.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2005)