Addressing a forum to promote Sino-Japanese cooperation held in Beijing Thursday, Yoshiro Mori said the two countries should work closely to contribute to the prosperity of the regional and world economy.

China is now Japan's second largest trading partner. Mori predicted that with the sustained growth of the Chinese economy, there would be an expansion of business and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Citing friction as "unavoidable" with expanding bilateral trade and business relations, he said that no matter what kind of problem occurred, there must be ways and means to solve it as long as the two sides showed mutual respect and understanding.

Moreover, Mori noted that China has been playing an increasingly important role in the world economy. As a member of the World Trade Organization, he acknowledged, China could make further efforts towards the establishment of a fair and new international economic order.

Besides cooperation in trade and business, Japan and China also enjoy active exchanges in culture, arts and sports, said Mori. "As a statesmen, one of my responsibilities is set to promote contacts and exchanges among people of different countries," he added.

He also expressed his pleasure at visiting China with many Japanese businesspeople and experts. "I believe that this forum will surely further promote understanding and exchanges between the business circles of both countries," the former Japanese prime minister said.

Forum Opens to Promote Sino-Japanese Cooperation

A forum to promote Sino-Japanese cooperation at government, business and educational levels opened in Beijing on Thursday.

The forum, co-sponsored by People's Daily of China and Venture Forum of Japan, is part of activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

About 300 officials, experts and entrepreneurs attended the forum and discussed such subjects as telecommunications, finance, and the service industry.

The forum provided a good opportunity for people, especially businesspeople, of the two countries to understand each other, said Wang Guangying, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China.

China is now Japan's second largest trading partner and Japan is China's top trading partner.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori predicted a trade expansion in the future. He said no matter what difficulty might occur during the course of cooperation, there was always a way to solve it as long as both sides showed respect and understanding for each other.

( July 5, 2002)