China Daily on Friday signed a strategic partnership agreement with Sohu.com - one of the country's largest Web portals - on coverage of the Olympics.

Sohu.com, which is the official sponsor of Internet content services for the Games, operates the official website of the Beijing Olympic committee - www.beijing2008.com.

China Daily, the country's only national English-language newspaper, will produce the official newspapers for the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as publishing Olympic and Paralympic Village papers.

Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily, said: "Through this partnership we will be able to offer the best content and service to a global audience eager to know about the Beijing Games.

"We want to show our readers the glory and the dream of the Olympic Movement with faster and stronger content, in line with the Olympic drive for excellence," he said.

Zhang Chaoyang, chairman and chief executive officer of Sohu.com, said as the powerhouse behind the official website of the Games, the company was delighted to be working with China Daily to "tell the stories of a successful Olympics".

The official website is currently available in English, French and Chinese, with Spanish and Arabic versions coming ahead of the Games in August, Zhang said.

As well as the coverage of the Olypics, the two organizations have agreed to cooperate on news reporting and to share more content.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/19/2008 page2)