The pandas are coming, the pandas are coming!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially confirmed Saturday that China has agreed to lend two giant pandas to zoos in Toronto and Calgary for a period of five years each, beginning next year.

In what had become the worst-kept secret of his trade mission to the Middle Kingdom, Harper visited a zoo in Chongqing to announce that Canada has secured a pair of pandas on loan from China for consecutive five-year periods, beginning with the Toronto Zoo in 2013 and then Calgary in 2018.

Er Shun (which translates into #2 Smooth) and Ji Li (Successful Pretty) are expected to arrive in Toronto early next year.

"It is a tremendous honour for Canada to be entrusted with two of China's national treasures: the giant pandas Er Shun and Ji Li," Harper said.

In the panda enclosure at the Chongqing zoo, Laureen Harper held a baby panda (not one of the bears heading to Canada) in her lap, clasping it around the belly as the prime minister scratched it behind the neck.

Two other pandas were behind them in a pen happily munching away. "The pandas, which will delight Canadian children and adults alike, and be a boon to tourism in Toronto and Calgary, will be an enduring reminder of the deep friendship and goodwill that exists between our countries," said the prime minister.

The agreement between the Toronto and Calgary zoos and Chinese agencies, facilitated by the Canadian government, also includes a commitment by each facility to invest in research and conservation of the species.

It has been more than 20 years since giant pandas have walked on Canadian soil. Canada was home to giant pandas on three separate occasions during the 1980s when zoos in Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg all hosted the bamboo-munchers for short-term stays.

Unique to China, giant pandas often serve as unofficial national mascots and are seen as symbols of peace, friendship and good fortune.

The panda offering from China symbolized Harper's four-day trade mission to Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing, and the warming bilateral relations between the two countries.

Harper was warmly received by the current and future generation of China's political leaders whom he met over the four days, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang and Communist Party secretaries.