Two giant pandas arrive in Atlanta from China after Xi-Trump summit

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang to live at Atlanta zoo in Georgia as part of loan deal between Chinese and US governments

Two giant pandas from China arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday morning as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments.

While in Washington DC for a three-day summit with Donald Trump, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced that the pandas would arrive in Atlanta in the coming days. The loan of the pandas to the Atlanta zoo was one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of Xi’s state visit with the US president, which saw expressions of goodwill between the leaders, but no fixes to any of the longstanding differences between the two countries.

Atlanta said farewell to its last pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without the bears. The new agreement was announced back in April, but without any dates.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are the two adult pandas that will be on loan to Zoo Atlanta for 10 years as part of the agreement. They departed Chengdu in south-western China early on Sunday aboard a dedicated “FedEx Panda Express” Boeing 777 aircraft, officials said. A new agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association makes Atlanta one of three zoos in the US to house giant pandas.