British diplomats and the Chinese government have been discussing a deal to bring giant pandas to a Scottish zoo.
The talks took place during Gordon Brown's trip to Beijing for the Olympic closing ceremony.
Earlier this year the Edinburgh Zoological Society signed a letter of intent with China to bring two giant pandas to the zoo on loan for 10 years.
There are thought to be fewer than 1,600 of the animals remaining in the world, and that number may be even less after the earthquake in China in May.
Edinburgh Zoo's chief executive David Windmill will return to China later this year to fill in details of what will be in the agreement.
"Giant pandas are the iconic animal in China," he said.
"The government wants to know there is a serious research programme, and a serious conservation programme in place before they allow any zoo to have their precious animals and I understand that.
"We have to convince them we are putting considerable resources behind this and we will build state of the art enclosures for them so the whole process is comfortable for the Chinese."
