Sino-US Oceanic Research Cooperation

����China and the United States have agreed to enhance cooperation in ocean science and technology, according to officials from both countries.

����Disaster prevention, the ocean's role in global atmospheric changes, developing marine biologic resources, and marine and coastal management are major fields for future cooperation, according to China's State Oceanic Administration and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which held a meeting on ocean science and technology cooperation here recently.

����The two countries have had more than 100 research and exchange projects in oceanic data collection, oceanic meteorology, marine geology, geological resources, and the marine environment over the past 20 years.

����They were oganized in accordance with the Marine and Fisheries Protocol of the 1979 US-China Science and Technology Agreement, which allowed the United States to become the first country to sign an inter-government agreement with China on ocean science and technology cooperation.