China and Tunisia signed eight cooperation accords Monday in Tunis after the talks between visiting Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi.

The accords signed include three economic agreements between the government of the People's Republic of China and the government of the Republic of Tunisia, and two agreements

concerning bilateral trade and reciprocal encouragement and protection of investments.

Other accords include agreement in education and research cooperation. The Education Ministry of China and the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology of Tunisia signed cooperation agreement in the fields of higher education and science and technology research.

China is also including Tunisia as a destination country its citizens can travel to. The National Tourism Administration of China and the Tunisian Tourism National Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation plan for organized group travel by Chinese citizens to Tunisia.

The two sides also signed a protocol regarding sending medical teams by China to Tunisia.

The Chinese vice president and the Tunisian prime minister were present at the signing ceremony.

The signing of the agreements gives an impetus to mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, which signed the first trade agreement in 1958 before the two established diplomatic relations in 1964.