The Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy met with the Chinese foreign minister to discuss the possibility of Edinburgh zoo obtaining a breeding pair of pandas.

The zoo had hoped to have the pandas in place by this month, to coincide with the zoo's centenary celebrations. It seems that getting help of the Chinese government has proved more difficult than expected.

Mr Murphy hopes to speed up the process by talking directly to the Chinese minister, The zoo thinks that 2010 is the earliest date that the pandas could be at the zoo, if the zoo is successful in obtaining them.