The Chinese Government concluded a US$22 million co-operation deal with the Japanese Government yesterday on environmental protection and disease control. 

An Min, China's vice-minister of commerce, and Anami Koreshige, Japan's ambassador to China, signed the contract yesterday in Beijing.

The deal comprises four projects:

The improvement of solid-waste management in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province;

The third phase of a plan to control tuberculosis in poverty-stricken areas;

Afforestation for conservation purposes on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; and

Another afforestation project on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in north China's Shanxi Province.

Of the four projects, the Xi'an solid-waste project will get the most assistance from Japan.

The Japanese Government will provide garbage-treatment vehicles and equipment worth US$11 million to Xi'an. The city now produces about 3,000 tons of rubbish per day, raising questions about the current waste-treatment system.

Ministry of Commerce sources predicted that a high-efficiency waste-treatment system would be established in Xi'an and provide useful experience for other Chinese cities.

Japan is also expected to provide medicine and medical equipment worth US$3.8 million to nine Chinese provinces and three autonomous regions, where some 180,000 people suffer from tuberculosis.

(China Daily August 15, 2003)