On December 8 (Sun.), 2019, the 13th Japan-China Energy Efficiency and Environment Forum was held in Tokyo. The forum brought together over 800 stakeholders from the public and private sectors in both countries, including Minister Kajiyama, Mr. Koizumi Shinjiro, Minister of the Environment, and Mr. Muneoka Shoji, Chairman of the Japan-China Economic Association, and other officials from the Japanese side, as well as Mr. Zhang Yong, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Mr. Li Chenggang, Assistant Minister of Commerce, Mr. Kong Xuanyou, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Japan, and other officials from the Chinese side. Memorandums for establishment of 26 new cooperation projects were exchanged at the forum (see the Appendix). With these exchanges, the number of such projects has come to 388 since the inauguration of the forum in 2006. At the plenary session, Minister Kajiyama stated that this forum should place priority on [i] the expanded utilization of hydrogen energy and [ii] resource recycling, including countermeasures against marine plastic waste, as part of the cooperation in addressing global issues, and delivered a statement that Japan and China should collaborate through holding discussions and sharing knowledge taking certain opportunities, such as this forum and other public-private dialogues as well as international conferences, and should contribute to realizing a global society in which environment friendliness and economic growth will harmonize. In addition, six working sessions were held on: hydrogen, which was newly created this time; automobiles; Japan-China long-term trading (effort for addressing global demand for water); clean coal; promotion of energy efficiency; and circular economy, and participants from the government sector, major companies and other entities of Japan and China exchanged opinions.
