Chinese, Japanese entrepreneurs, former officials call for promoting economic exchanges

TOKYO, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Business leaders, former senior officials, experts and scholars from China and Japan called for promoting economic exchanges at the fifth round of Sino-Japanese Entrepreneurs and Former High-level Officials Dialogue that wrapped up here on Thursday.

Zeng Peiyan, former Chinese vice premier and chairman of China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda were among the participants of the dialogue.

During the two-day dialogue, the two sides held candid talks on the economic situation and prospects of bilateral economic and trade relations. They called on the entrepreneurs to seize opportunities, explore new areas of cooperation, promote economic and trade exchanges and inject new vitality into bilateral relations.

Zeng pointed out that trade friction risks, geopolitical risks and international financial risks keep cropping up, highlighting the importance of strengthening cooperation between China and Japan.

According to him, the leaders of China and Japan reached important consensus at the summit of the Group of 20 (G20) in Osaka on building bilateral relations in line with the requirements of the new era, creating a sound political atmosphere for the future economic and trade development of the two countries.

Zeng also said that the two sides should jointly resist the trend of protectionism, maintain multilateralism and free trade system, make efforts to repair the damaged industrial chain and supply chain, raise the level of regional cooperation, and push for the early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Japan-China-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement.

He hoped that with China's domestic demand market expanding and upgrading, entrepreneurs of the two countries could seize the opportunity, strengthen cooperation and push bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level.

Fukuda said that economic and trade frictions between China and the United States has a big impact on Japan and cannot be ignored. As the world's second and third largest economies, China and Japan should further deepen mutual understanding and resolve issues through various dialogue platforms.

The dialogue also covered such topics as cooperation in third-party markets, environmental governance, dealing with aging societies, and promoting innovation and industrial cooperation.

The two sides issued a joint statement after the dialogue, expressing the willingness to uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system and promote the reform of the World Trade Organization to adapt to the changing global economic situation.

Both sides agreed that in order to solve the problems faced by both countries, such as aging society and environmental protection, they should establish all-round partnership with involvement of government, industries and individuals, and enhance coordination and cooperation in the fields of medical care, health care, energy conservation, environmental protection and ecological civilization construction, make contribution to the achievement of the sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations.