The Japanese government will donate medical equipment worth 1.148 billion yen (about US$10 million) to hospitals in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality for use in maternal and child health care.

Long Yongtu, chief negotiator of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), and Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami signed the notes exchanged between the governments of the two countries in Beijing Monday.

The Chinese government has made great efforts to improve the health care services for women and children but, in the world's most populous country, those in less developed areas of west and central China still do not have an easy access to medical services, said a MOFTEC official.

The improvement of medical services in Chongqing, the only municipality directly under the central government in west China, will set a good example for other areas in the region, he added.

( March 5, 2002)