China and Mongolia have agreed to further expand cooperation in meteorology in efforts to fight off the threat of sandstorms posed to both countries, according to documents issued on Wednesday at the end of a meteorological meeting in Ulan Bator.

Officials attending the three-day conference between China's Meteorological Bureau and Mongolia's National Agency of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Monitoring signed the minutes of the meeting.

According to the documents, the two countries will cooperate in building three weather stations in Mongolia monitoring sandstorms and share data collected by the stations.

Research shows the desert in south Mongolia is one of the main sources of sand storms that hit China every year.

China and Mongolia have strengthened cooperation in meteorology in recent years. At the last meteorological conference between the two countries in 2005, documents on 12 cooperation projects were signed.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)