THE Chinese State Forestry Administration (SFA) has announced that a pair of pandas selected as gifts for Hong Kong will leave for the special administrative region April 26.

The pandas will travel by air from Wolong in Sichuan Province via Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, to Hong Kong International Airport, said an official with the SFA yesterday.

"The pandas are in good condition and almost ready for the flight," said the official.

Both pandas were born in 2005 at the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong. The male panda weighs 60 kilograms and the female 61 kilograms.

The pandas are leaving in time for the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong SAR.

The agreement on transfer of the pandas to Hong Kong was signed in Beijing yesterday. It was witnessed by Secretary for Hong Kong Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping and State Forestry Administration Director Zhao Xuemin.

The agreement specifies strict arrangements for the pandas in Hong Kong.

The pair's new home will be in Ocean Park, Hong Kong's leading wildlife and marine park.

The agreement states that after the pandas' arrival at Ocean Park, they should only be shown to the public when physically fit.

The agreement also enables the establishment of working relations between Ocean Park and the Wolong Nature Reserve Administration regarding the nursing, breeding and research of giant pandas, a government statement said yesterday.

Ho said Hong Kong was grateful to receive the pandas, calling them National treasures.

This pair of new giant pandas carries the mission of building a family in Hong Kong, he added.

Later next year, the pandas will move to a bigger enclosure at Ocean Park, called Astounding Asia.

Editor: Wing