US and Chinese officials on Tuesday announced an agreement aimed at strengthening cooperation and improving safety of consumer products.

Under the agreement reached at a two-day meeting on safety of consumer products, both the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) agreed to carry out full cooperation in quality inspections in four categories: toys, fireworks, cigarette lighters and electrical products, which are exported to the United States.

The AQSIQ will strengthen their inspections on the exported products and assist the CPSC in tracing hazardous products.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will review the plans' effectiveness in one year to identify possible areas for deepening cooperation.

AQSIQ deputy chief Wei Chuanzhong said after the talks that China has taken a series of measures to improve quality of products.

"The Chinese government agrees to coordinate plans to guarantee the health and safety standards of the products, including toys, exported to the US," Wei said.

"We believe those measures will enable China's products to attain higher quality in the near future," he said.

The Chinese official pointed out that although some toys recalled in the US could have quality and safety problems, the bulk of the Chinese products exported to the United States were of reliable quality. Even among those products recalled in the US, the overwhelming majority were found to have come from flaws of designing by the US side.

In addition, a considerable amount of products recalled in the US were due to "a large gap in standards between our two countries."

Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the CPSC, said that the US side was convinced that the Chinese government was serious about improving the safety of consumer products through the two days of talks.

"We will be looking for meaningful cooperation on the ground -- that means not just with the Chinese government, but also with industry at both ends of the supply chain," Nord added.

This is the second meeting between China and the United States on safety of consumer products. The first meeting was held in Beijing in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2007)