BEIJING, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- French oil and gas company Total, along with the French embassy to China, will help Beijing health authorities build a first-aid training center to further enhance Sino-French cooperation in medical areas.

The three-year program is expected to start at the beginning of 2008. Medical experts from both China and France will be invited to train all first-aid workers in the Chinese capital, according to a letter of intent signed here Friday by the French embassy, Total and the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

The partners will also consider offering courses on emergency and disaster medicine with the help of hospitals affiliated to some well-known French universities, and in issuing diploma or degrees to qualified students in the China-France training center.

No details about investment were revealed at the ceremony.

Jacques de Boisseson, general representative of Total in China, said the company was committed to helping Beijing improve its first-aid system for the Olympics.

Since 2004, Total has input more than 1.5 million euros (2.1 U.S. million dollars) to fund 30 Chinese first-aid doctors to advance their studies in France. It has also sponsored two China-France forums on emergency and disaster medicine.

"France has been concerned about China's public health work and has carried out cooperation in this regard over recent years," French Ambassador Herve Ladsous said. "France will continue to help promote China's public health work, just as it did before."

China's Minister of Health Chen Zhu praised the Sino-French medical cooperation as a symbol of the friendly ties between the two countries.

"I hope medical workers in both China and France will make greater contributions to consolidating the friendship," he said.