Eight founding members of East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (EATOF) signed a joint declaration on Saturday in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, marking further development of tourism cooperation in East Asia.

Representatives from Gangwon Province (Republic of Korea), Tottori Prefecture (Japan), Tuv Province (Mongolia), Chiang Mai Province (Thailand), Cebu Province (the Philippines), Sarawak Province (Malaysia), Yogyakarta Special Province (Indonesia), and Jilin Province addressed at the forum.

They also discussed issues concerning the EATOF operation system and cooperation issues before signing the joint declaration.

According to the declaration, the EATOF members should strengthen cooperation and information exchanges, and enhance promotion of East Asia's tourism products.

In order to strengthen mutual understanding, the EATOF members should support the large-scale international activities held in the member countries, and work hard to attract more tourists through economic, cultural and sports exchanges.

Other East Asia countries were also invited to join the EATOF.

The next EATOF will be held Sarawak, Malaysia, according to the document.

The EATOF, as a voluntary, self-financing association, is an international cooperation body in East Asia among provincial government for tourism promotion, bringing together provinces and regions from throughout East Asia.

The EATOF founding members also include Russia's Primorsky Territory.

 (Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)