ATLANTA — The China Wildlife Conservation Association announced it will send two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, to Zoo Atlanta in the United States under a decade-long conservation cooperation agreement. The association did not specify a departure date for the pair.

Male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang are from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the association said. The animals will begin the 10-year cooperation under an agreement signed with Zoo Atlanta last year.

The U.S. side was carrying out facility upgrades and other preparation work to create a more comfortable and safer environment for the pandas, the association said, adding that Chinese experts were providing technical guidance on those upgrades. The association said the new round of cooperation will help China and the U.S. yield more results in disease prevention and treatment and scientific exchanges.

Zoo Atlanta expressed that it was delighted and honored to be trusted as stewards of the pandas and to partner with the association. "We can't wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas," said Raymond B. King, President of Zoo Atlanta.

During an earlier giant panda agreement between Zoo Atlanta and China that concluded in 2024, pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang gave birth to seven cubs, the zoo said. Lun Lun, Yang Yang, and their two youngest offspring left Atlanta for China in October 2024, and the rest of their offspring reside in China, according to the zoo.

China's giant panda loan program has long been used as a tool of Beijing's soft-power diplomacy. Giant pandas have been a symbol of U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972. In 2024, the National Zoo in Washington and the San Diego Zoo received pandas from China.