Japan and China vowed to promote cooperation on the topics of environment protection, technology trade and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection during their second high-level economic dialogue held?in Tokyo?on Sunday.

"China attaches great importance on saving the energy and protecting the ecology, while Japan has broad experience and advanced technologies on these areas," said Zhang Ping, chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, "So the two countries can achieve win-win results through close cooperation."

Zhang said in recent years China and Japan have already conducted active collaboration on energy and environment conservation. This has become a new highlight among the wide range of cooperation between the two countries and provided a new growing point for bilateral trade and economy.

He said more cooperation will be conducted on countermeasures of sandstorms, air pollution and treatment of garbage and sewage in small cities and towns.

The two sides also signed a contract to turn Shenyang, which used to be a heavy industrial city in China's northeast, into an environment conservation "sample city" through cooperation with Japan's Kawasaki of Kanagawa Prefecture, which is renowned for its recycling economy.

China and Japan also exchanged views on developing technology trade and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cooperation.

"Japanese SMEs are very mature in technology and Chinese SMEs are growing fast. They should have huge potential for cooperation to tap into the vast market both inside and outside China," according to Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

Chen said China will continue to promote overseas business of SMEs and hoped Japan can help facilitate the process by measures such as easing visa controls.

Chen and his Japanese counterpart, Toshihiro Nikai, minister of economy, trade and industry, also talked on strengthening 3G telecommunications network building, opening up source code software and software and IT service outsourcing, as well as the compulsory certification system for information security products that Chinese government planned to introduce.

They signed a memorandum and established for the first time a working group to protect intellectual property rights (IPR).

"The working group will focus on information sharing of laws and regulations with regards to IPR, as well as the experience in the law enforcement," Chen said.

"Japan is a very advanced country in terms of IPR protection and we believe there are many experiences that China can learn," he added.

He said through efforts in recent years China has established its own IPR protection system. "China, as a developing country, will face a lot of problems in the process of enforcement, but we will not shun such problems."

"China and Japan have a broad range of economic cooperation. We will use the working group mechanism to solve problems in respect of IPR protection," Chen said.

The memorandum signed by Chen and Nikai stipulates that the intellectual property working group meet once a year. Nikai asked that the working group convene its first meeting by the end of the year.

The one-day dialogue, co-chaired by Wang and Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, was attended by senior officials from the two countries.

The dialogue mechanism, first held in Beijing in December 2007, was jointly launched by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during Wen's trip to Japan in April 2007.??

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2009)