Scientists of the Sino-Russian Joint Research Team on Lake Baikal announced on August 29 a successful first cooperation. The team also agreed to conduct a second research project late next year in Chinese territory.

Sun Jiulin, chief scientist from the Chinese team, and an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said that scientists from China and Russia had enhanced their exchange of hydrobiology, ecology and regional economy expertise and knowledge, as well as put forward a series of new tasks for further cooperation through the joint scientific survey. Both sides have decided to hold a symposium next June.

According to the cooperation agreement signed on the same day by the CAS and the Irkutsk Scientific Center under the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, regional economy, environment, ecological resources, hydrobiology, geology, energy and chemical pharmacy will be the priority of further cooperation.

For two weeks from August 13, 23 scientists from China and Russia conducted a field survey in the Lake Baikal area.

The Chinese team returned to Beijing on August 30.

Located in southern Siberia, the 1,620-meter deep Lake Baikal lies between the Irkutsk Oblast on the northwest and Buryatia on the southeast. It is the world's deepest and largest freshwater lake and was added to the UNESCO's world natural heritage site list in 1996.

(China.org.cn Li Shen, September 3, 2005)