Participants including those from Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions were greeted by Chinese officials at Beijing's international airport on Saturday.

A Hong Kong health official said she and her colleagues were looking forward to exchanging information and experiences in SARS quarantine and border controls with experts from the mainland and ASEAN countries. She said her team was working on how to facilitate quarantine processes through scientific means.

The meeting was proposed in late April at a conference in Bangkok on the fight against SARS. It is expected to adopt a joint－action plan to reduce the negative effects SARS has had on international travel.

(cctv.com May 29, 2003)