WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Steve Monfort, director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has commended "an incredible journey" working with the Chinese side to conserve giant pandas, as he looked back and forward at the decades-old partnership in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

The interview came days after the extension of the National Zoo's giant panda cooperative research agreement with the China Wildlife and Conservation Association (CWCA), which allows female giant panda Mei Xiang, male giant panda Tian Tian, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji, to continue to live in Washington, D.C. until December 2023.

Monfort said the terms of the agreement extension are similar to those of previous agreements in the spirit of "ensuring that we have cooperation going forward, that the animals are well cared for, and that our cooperative research and knowledge exchange will continue."

With the extension, the partnership is poised to cross the half-century mark, since the National Zoo received its first pair of giant pandas in 1972 as a gift from the Chinese government, a starting point of what Monfort described as one of the greatest conservation successes in history.

At that time, both sides had "fairly limited" knowledge about how to use modern zoological techniques and scientific methods to care for and understand giant pandas but efforts by multiple generations of scientists and conservations working on giant pandas have led to "tremendous strides" in terms of nutrition, reproduction and genetics, according to the zoo chief.

"We've had a 48-year history and relationship of cooperation and success working together. We hope that we will be able to continue that relationship into the future beyond 2023," he said. "So when the time is appropriate, we certainly will enter into some discussions with the CWCA about the possibility of continuing to have pandas at the National Zoo in the future."

Speaking of colleagues and counterparts in China, there was no shortage of praises from Monfort.

They "have done a fantastic job" and continuously made progress towards understanding the biology of giant pandas both in human care and in the wild, said the director, while calling Chinese colleagues "friends" that the National Zoo have respected, learned from, and shared information and knowledge with.

"There are very strong relationships between people. It's not just because of giant pandas. It's because of true friendship and a common goal, a common mission, which is to help save giant pandas for future generations," he said. "It's been a tremendously productive partnership for many years, a fantastic example of how cooperation can lead to great success."

Dubbed as China's "national treasure," giant pandas live in scattered populations in central China, mostly in Sichuan Province, but also in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. The latest census in 2014 found there were 1,864 giant pandas alive in the wild, up from 1,114 decades ago. The number of giant pandas bred in captivity has reached 600 as of 2019, according to a tally from the Chinese authorities.

Monfort said the world loves giant pandas and that the bears are "an international symbol of conservation and success" and "amazing ambassadors" opening up people's understanding to the beauty of nature as well as to the need to save the species and the nature at large.

Meanwhile, the National Zoo chief highlighted that the survival and conservation of the rare species continues to rely on international cooperation and concerted efforts.

"We all have different strengths in terms of our scientific expertise. It's difficult to have everyone, every skill set and every scientific discipline represented in one organization," he said. "So we bring together different experts from around the world to work together, even if they're separated by many thousands of miles. We're working collectively to build the knowledge base ... the power of the partnership is in our collective strength intellectually and our scientific strength as well as our ability to share knowledge."

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the zoo's second pair of giant pandas, have been living here since late 2000 and have given birth to four surviving cubs. Xiao Qi Ji, a healthy male cub, was born in August this year months after his mother's artificial insemination.

Monfort said that it is unlikely for Mei Xiang to be artificially inseminated next year, but they will consult with the Chinese side on that matter. "We would follow the guidance of our partners. So we always consult on these things. We don't make those decisions unilaterally," he said.