Kyodo News and Xinhua News Agency agreed Tuesday to expand their cooperative relationship and review their cooperative agreement signed in September 1994, the two news agencies said.
The agreement came at a meeting between Kyodo News President Toyohiko Yamanouchi and Xinhua President Tian Congming at the state-run Chinese news agency's headquarters.
"Xinhua and Kyodo believe that it will contribute to their global activities and security in Asia to build on their mutual trust established so far and further strengthen their cooperative relationship based on the principle of equality and reciprocity," the news agencies said in a statement.
Under the latest agreement, Kyodo and Xinhua will conclude a new deal on cooperation to further develop and beef up their relationship, they said.
Kyodo and Xinhua also inked a new accord to exchange photographs online, allowing them to access each other's photo database and download up to five photos a day free of charge, they said.
Xinhua has offices in all Chinese provincial capitals and about 100 overseas bureaus.
Kyodo is Japan's largest news agency and runs offices in all 47 prefectures and operates 41 overseas bureaus.