Five provinces and autonomous regions in west China will carry out afforestation projects in coming years with financial aid provided by the Republic of Korea (ROK), according to the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

Under an agreement signed Monday between the SFA and the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the ROK will donate one million U.S. dollars to each of the provinces and autonomous regions for the afforestation project.

The project aimed at improving the ecological system in west China will be started in Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang at thebeginning.

The donation made by the ROK government is the result of talks between Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and ROK President Kim Dae-jung when Zhu visited the country in October last year, said a SFA official.China and the ROK are also cooperating in a project to enlarge forest around a reservoir which serves as one of the sources of drinking water for the 12 million people in Beijing, the official said.

So far, the SFA has signed cooperation agreements with forestrydepartments of more than 20 countries, involving more than 2.5 billion dollars of foreign capital.