(19 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 19 April 2024
1. Wide of signing ceremony of a letter of intent of international cooperation on giant panda conservation between the San Francisco Zoo and China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA)
2. Mid of audience
3. SOUNDBITE (English) London Breed, San Francisco Mayor:
“San Francisco is absolutely thrilled to be welcoming giant pandas to the San Francisco Zoo.”
4. Close of panda doll
5. Various of signing event
6. Wide of Breed and Secretary General of China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) Wu Minglu holding signed documents
7. SOUNDBITE (English) London Breed, San Francisco Mayor:
“We have been working closely with our local Chinese and Asian community in San Francisco to advocate for pandas for nearly a year, leading up to APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) in November and it’s an honor that our city has been chosen for the first time to be a long-term host to giant pandas.”
8. Various of panda dolls
9. SOUNDBITE (English) London Breed, San Francisco Mayor:
“San Francisco is an international destination and the gateway to the Asia Pacific. Having pandas here will strengthen our already deep cultural connections with our Chinese and API communities who are at the core of the fabric of who we are as a city.”
10. Wide of audience
11. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wu Minglu, Secretary General of CWCA: ++CONSECUTIVE TRANSLATION INCLUDED++
“Next, both sides will maintain close communication, strengthen cooperation and coordination and actively promote preparations in accordance with the requirements and technical standards of the international conservation cooperation for giant pandas, to push forward the formal signing of the cooperation agreement as soon as possible.”
12. Wide of Wu speaking
13. Close of panda dolls
STORYLINE:
San Francisco’s Mayor announced that the San Francisco Zoo has been selected to receive a pair of giant pandas from China at a ceremony in Beijing on Friday.
“San Francisco is absolutely thrilled to be welcoming giant pandas to the San Francisco Zoo," said mayor London Breed.
At a grand hotel in Beijing, Breed and Secretary General of the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) Wu Minglu signed a memorandum of understanding on their cooperation on panda conservation.
The signing marks a formal start of technical discussions on San Francisco Zoo’s hosting of a pair of giant pandas, which are expected to arrive in 2025.
Breed said she recalled the three-month stay of two giant pandas in San Francisco in 1984 for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, saying it once drew 260,000 visitors to the San Francisco Zoo, roughly four times the average attendance during that time.
Wu said the two sides would maintain close contact to speed up the signing of the final cooperation agreement and pave the way for the pandas’ arrival.
The black-and-white bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations.
China later loaned pandas to zoos to help breed cubs and boost the population.
China has earlier announced that it will send a pair of pandas to the San Diego Zoo and two bears are expected to arrive by the end of this summer if all permits and other requirements are approved.
AP video shot by Borg Wong
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