China vows to expand energy cooperation with Japan

BEIJING, CHINA - Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said China and Japan should increase cooperation in energy conservation and environmental protection.

"We should expand our cooperation in equipment, project, industry and service sectors relating to energy-saving and environmental protection", Li said when addressing the fourth China-Japan energy conservation forum in Beijing.

Li also called for the two nations to enhance exchanges in technology and talented person and to improve cooperation mechanism in this area.

The China-Japan cooperation in energy conservation and environmental protection had been a notable area in the recent bilateral economic and trade relations, Li said.

Li hoped the two nations would firmly grasp the right direction to build strategic mutually beneficial ties, and to further enhance economic relations, in an effort to create more tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Li met with Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Naoshima Masayuki before addressing the forum, exchanging views on China-Japan cooperation in energy conservation.

Li also briefed the forum on China's measures on energy conservation, including adjusting industrial and energy structure, actively developing clean energy, implementing energy-saving measures on buildings, and building a resource efficient and environment-friendly society.

He said China would increasingly improve its capability of sustainable development, and strive to maintain long-term stable and rapid economic growth.

China would increase coordination and cooperation with the international community to cope with the climate change issue, on the basis of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" among developed and developing countries, and in line with the Bali Roadmap, he noted.

The forum, first initiated in 2006, was attended by about 1,000 representatives from the political, business and academic circles of the two countries this time.

China and Japan signed 42 cooperation agreements on energy-saving and environmental protection projects at the forum.