Chairman Zeng Peiyan visits Japan to Expand Ties with Japanese Think tanks and Intermediaries

At the invitation of the Japan-China Economic Association, Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of CCIEE, visited Japan January 19-21, where he met with local economic associations, think tanks, and enterprises. In face of the current global financial crisis, Zeng said, it is highly desirable that the two countries enhance exchanges between think tanks and intermediaries and accelerate cooperation in major economic areas, with a view toward contributing to Sino-Japan economic and trade relations.

At a luncheon jointly organized by the Japan-China Economic Association and Nippon Keidanren, Zeng delivered a speech in which he analyzed current international economic trends, explained China's economic policies, suggested enhanced cooperation in key areas, and called for more extensive cooperation and exchanges between think thanks in the two countries. Zeng emphasized that governmental and people-to-people cooperation will certainly bring about a new phase in Sino-Japanese relations and contribute to international peace and development. During the luncheon, Miyahara Kenji and Fumiaki Watari, vice presidents of the Japan-China Economic Association, also gave speeches. They hoped that the two major economies would continue to strengthen cooperation, promote global economic growth, and contribute to sustainable development of world economy. They also said that the Japan-China Economic Association would continue to commit itself to supporting bilateral economic cooperation and to playing an active role in energy efficiency, environment conservation, and regional development. More than 20 financial leaders attended the luncheon, including the honorary president of Nippon Keidanren, Hiroshi Okuda. The top leaders of Toshiba, All Nippon Airways, Toyota, Tokyo Electric Power, and other Japanese companies all agreed upon the tremendous potential of the Chinese market and expressed hopes to further extend mutually beneficial cooperation with Chinese enterprises. In his speech, CCIEE Secretary General Wei Jianguo said that CCIEE is willing to strengthen cooperation with the Japan-China Economic Association and Nippon Keidanren and to provide more opportunities for cooperation between the two countries' economic sectors.

In his meeting with Kazumasa Iwata, Director of the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office, Zeng praised Japanese think tanks for playing an important role in Japanese economic development, adding that their experiences and practices are valuable to their Chinese counterparts. He said that China is now in the process of economic restructuring, a process that Japan underwent in the late 1980s, hoping that more exchanges regarding this process will be carried out. Secretary General Wei Jianguo gave a background introduction about CCIEE. Director Iwata expressed his willingness to establish close research exchanges with CCIEE. At the request of the Chinese delegation, he also introduced research on bubble economy and deflation.

At the Tokyo Headquarters of Nomura Securities, Zeng met with Ujiie Junichi, Chairman of Nomura Holding company, and Yamada, director of the Nomura Research Institute. Zeng said that Nomura Securities is a world famous financial service company and Nomura Research Institute one of the world's top research institutes. He urged think tanks and research institutes around the world to focus their research on financial issues in this period of global financial crisis. He expressed hopes that CCIEE will enhance its ties with Nomura through cooperation and exchanges in research. Ujiie Junichi introduced Nomura's history and business development. Yamada introduced Nomura Research Institute's development, organizational structure as well as research priorities, and expressed his willingness to develop cooperation and exchanges with CCIEE.

During his visit to Japan, Zeng also visited the headquarters of Panasonic and Hitachi in Tokyo, in order to learn about Japanese companies' latest technological breakthroughs in energy efficiency, environmental conservation, new energy, renewable energy, and cyclical economy. Japanese enterprises expressed interest in developing cooperation with China in environmental technology, smart grids, intelligent transportation, home appliance recycling, and refuse disposal, etc. Zeng affirmed Japanese enterprises' important contributions to Sino-Japan economic cooperation and supported their suggestions for enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation. He said that CCIEE would like to serve as a platform for accelerating industry-wise cooperation between the two countries.