YANGON, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese aid agency, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will provide aid worth 102 million Japanese yens (about 829,000 U.S. dollars) to Myanmar to help the country implement an animal disease control project, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday.

    Under an agreement signed here on Saturday between the JICA and the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD), the Japanese aid agency will help Myanmar fight five animal diseases including avian influenza by setting up laboratories, exchanging information and conducting refresher courses for the diseases control, the report said.

    The JICA is Japanese government's overseas aid agency.

    Myanmar has been placing emphasis on control of trans-border animal diseases, introducing animal quarantine laboratories in border trading areas with neighboring countries. According to an agreement reached between the LBVD and the Agriculture Department of China's Yunnan Province in January 2006, building of two labs in Kachin state's Myitgyina and Shan state's Lashio, where border trade activities are carried out, has been underway.

    The two labs will help transfer information speedily and test the safety of live animals and animal byproducts intended for export and import through border trade, the LBVD said.

    In late 2003, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding to help Myanmar fight foot and mouth diseases by setting up five free zones of the diseases in order to boost trade in hoofed animals and their products between Myanmar and the two countries.