China and Japan announced yesterday the creation of a joint
high-level economic dialogue mechanism which will serve to promote
economic and trade ties between the two countries. The first
meeting is set to be held later this year in Beijing.
Strengthening economic cooperation is a foundation stone of the
Sino-Japanese strategic, mutually beneficial relationship, said
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who co-chaired the launching
ceremony of the mechanism along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe.
Wen stated that a principal aim of the dialogue mechanism is to
allow the sharing of joint economic development strategies and
macro-economic policies, said Wen.
It will also seek to bring in different departments from both
countries to better build economic ties and more efficiently
discuss major issues of common concern, he said.
The mechanism's role will stretch to guiding Sino-Japanese
cooperation in a plethora of areas such as energy, environmental
protection, financing, telecommunications and intellectual property
rights protection, Wen said.
Abe echoed Wen in saying that the launching of the high-level
economic dialogue mechanism would mark the beginning of the
economic sphere of the strategic partnership, as well as being step
up in bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
China and Japan are indispensable trading partners for each
other, said Abe. Strengthening cooperation between the two will
play an important role in helping solve environmental and energy
problems faced by the world, he said.
Abe called for the two nations to continue dialogues from a
global perspective, thus improving the all-round development of
Japan-China relations.
According to the recommendations of Wen and Abe, Chinese
Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro
Aso will be act as co-chairs of the dialogue mechanism.
(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2007)