Beijing - Brazil and China on Wednesday agreed to supply data to African nations from their joint satellite programme, Chinese state media reported.

Stations in Hartebeeshoek, South Africa; Aswan, Egypt; and Maspaloms, Spain, are to process and distribute data to African states from the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite-02B (CBERS-02B), the official Xinhua news agency said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the signing of the agreements on data sharing at a space centre in Beijing on the final leg of a three-day visit to China.

"Those agreements indicated the support and importance China and Brazil attached to African countries, which is also an example of science and technology cooperation between developing countries," the agency quoted Guo Jianning, director of China's satellite data centre, as saying.

Guo said the agreements would also allow the first exports of Earth observation data from China.

The report did not specify which other African nations would benefit from the agreements signed Wednesday by China and Brazil.

The China-Brazil satellite programme began in 1988 with the first of three satellites launched in 1999. A fourth satellite was scheduled for launch in 2011.

The satellites are designed to collect data on land use, agricultural production, water resources, mining, urban planning, environmental protection and coastal monitoring, the agency said.

Lula left China later Wednesday after China and Brazil signed 13 agreements on Tuesday covering energy, finance, science, space, justice, ports and agricultural products.

During his visit, Lula also held talks in Beijing with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao and called on the two nations to help build a "more just and fair international order."(dpa)