The first giant panda twins ever to be born in Belgium have been officially named as Bao Di and Bao Mei, which means little brother and little sister of Tian Bao, in Chinese. Tian Bao was the very first panda cub born in Belgium in 2016.

The public were asked to choose the names of the cubs, born at the Pairi Daiza zoo in Brugelette back in August. The monikers Bao Di and Bao Mei were revealed in a ceremony attended by the Chinese Ambassador to Belgium on Thursday.

The twins had been known only as 'baby girl and baby boy' until the ceremony, to comply with the Chinese cultural tradition of naming a giant panda once it turns 100-days-old.

The "rare" double birth has been described as a "miracle" by keepers who monitor the babies around the clock.

Pandas  cannot take care of two cubs at once so the keepers have been alternating taking care of Bao Di and Bao Mei. Every ten days they are switched between the nursery and their mother.

Keeper Liu Yang said: "It is very hard and it is dangerous for them to be together with their mother Hao Hao at the moment. They are still being bottle fed and won't be on solid food, bamboo, for a few weeks yet but they are doing very well. It's incredible. We have a panda family here now! Mother, father, 3 year old son (Tian Bao) and twins Bao Di and Bao Mei."

Hao Hao was artificially inseminated in April and the twins are the second and third cubs she has given birth to at Pairi Daiza.

She and father Xing Hui are at Pairi Daiza on a 15-year loan from China as part of an international breeding and conservation program.

The program has already successfully produced one baby giant panda in Belgium, Tian Bao, who was born in 2016.

When Tian Bao turns four years old he will be sent back to China, as part of the agreement made with the Chinese authorities. There he will either be reintroduced into the wild or re-enter a breeding program.

According to the World Wildlife Fund there are fewer than 2,000 pandas left in the wild, but numbers are rising.

Chinese Ambassador to Belgium, Cao Zhongming, who was at the naming ceremony at Pairi Daiza zoo on Thursday, says cooperation between the two nations is helping to bring pandas back from the brink of extinction.

"100 days for the Pandas is very important, it's a very important step, before that they were really fragile and from now on they can live normally. Pandas are a national treasure for China, they're very rare in the wild and we need to protect them. Now with the efforts of the Chinese specialists and people here at Paira Daiza their numbers have increased."

Visitors will be able to see Bao Di and Bao Mei at the Pairi Daiza zoo when it reopens on December 14.