Darmstadt, Germany (PROTEX) -At Merck KGaA, Darmstadt/Germany the co-operation of over sixteen years between Merck and Hitachi was solemnly prolonged for a fur-ther ten years a few days ago. Representatives of both companies signed the corre-sponding agreements. The cooperation involves the selling, marketing and development of systems for high-pres-sure liquid chromatography (HPLC), preparative chromatography, and mass spectrometry, with Hitachi being responsible for sales and marketing in the USA, East Asia, and Oceania, and Merck for all other regions. The close cooperation has in recent years led to a series of ultramodern analytical systems for all research areas, the industry, and environmental control; both partners have invested their core competences in this cooperation. Hitachi has specialized in the development and marketing of laboratory equipment for over 40 years and is one of the leading manufacturers worldwide. In addition to the chromatog-raphy systems developed in cooperation with Merck, Hitachi's further important business segments include electron microscopes and medical analyzers. At Merck, chromatography is one of the core businesses in the Laboratory sector. A signi-fi-cant expansion of the market position is aimed at in the next few years. In addition to the existing systems, further innovative developments in equipment and separation media will contribute to reaching this goal. At Merck KGaA this business segment belongs to the laboratory sector. The sales totaled Euro 1,604 million in 1999. ots Original Text Servive: Merck KGaA Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Klaus-Peter Riede Tel. +49 6151 72 7109 Fax +49 6151 72 7707 E-mail klaus- peter.riede@merck.de E-mail: pressestelle@merck.de Internet http ://www.merck.de