On the afternoon of December 16, 2021, Beijing time, the 38th China-Japan Economic Knowledge Exchange Conference was held in Beijing, and officials and scholars from Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo participated in the conference both online and offline. Ma Jiantang, Chief Representative of Chinese side and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Development Research Center of the State Council, and Toshihiko Fukui, Chief Representative of Japanese side and President of The Canon Institute for Global Studies, jointly made the opening and concluding remarks. Zhang Laiming, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, presided over the opening ceremony. Weng Zuliang, Chairman and Party Group Secretary of China Minmetals, attended the conference in Beijing and delivered a keynote speech.

Ma Jiantang stated in his opening remark that after the outbreak of the COVID-19, China and Japan were both undergoing economic recovery and pursuing sustainable development in the post-pandemic era. Recently, President Xi Jinping had a phone call with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Both sides agreed to take the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 2022 as an opportunity to promote the establishment of sound China-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era. President Xi Jinping specifically pointed out that the two sides should strengthen the exchange of experience in governance and macroeconomic policy coordination and jointly maintain a fair and open trade and investment environment so as to achieve a higher level of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

Toshihiko Fukui said in his remark that the two key points of China-Japan economic and trade cooperation are carbon neutrality and digital revolution. He said that in terms of carbon neutrality, both parties should strengthen innovation on the basis of cost control and that in terms of the digital revolution, both parties should create a warm digital society by thinking deeply about the nature of human happiness and extensively studying more optimized lifestyles.

Weng Zuliang made a keynote speech in the "China-Japan Economic Cooperation" session. He said that the China-Japan Economic Knowledge Exchange Conference is a regular dialogue mechanism and communication bridge in the economic field of the two countries. He pointed out that since enterprises were the cells of the economy, only by deepening cooperation and exchanges between enterprises can the coupling of the industrial chain and supply chain between enterprises and economy be strengthened, thus to release huge vitality and strong momentum to promote the green economic recovery of the two countries. He also analyzed in his speech that at present, enterprises in both China and Japan had faced the four major challenges: industrial chain & supply chain interruption due to a once-in-a-century pandemic, green transformation of industries caused by the strategy of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, technical barriers and industrial chain & supply chain restructuring brought about by unprecedented global changes, transformation and upgrading of traditional industries due to the new technological revolution. Market vitality comes from entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Facing the once-in-a-century pandemic, it is the common responsibility and mission of entrepreneurs from the two countries to promote the green recovery of the Chinese and Japanese economies, and it is an important starting point to deeply explore the opportunities for industrial cooperation between the two countries.

Weng Zuliang pointed out that the current period of major opportunities for economic cooperation between China and Japan was approaching, and the two sides already had the foundation for building a complete and complementary regional industrial chain and supply chain system. He called on Chinese and Japanese entrepreneurs to work together to achieve all-round strategic cooperation, give full play to scale effects and complementary advantages, and jointly create a brand new "highland of value" and stimulate new momentum for regional economic development. For this purpose, he suggested three measures: first, Chinese and Japanese enterprises should build unified standards and eliminate hidden barriers to achieve mutual trust and development; second, they should strengthen R&D cooperation in emerging industries and accelerate innovation and development; third, they should uphold the concept of win-win cooperation and promote shared development.

Weng Zuliang said that China Minmetals was willing to work together with Japanese enterprises to build a platform for cooperation in the forefront of industries such as metal mineral resources, new energy material, intelligent manufacturing, venous industrial parks, and low-carbon metallurgical technology to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of two countries and the East Asia region.

Jiao Jian, China Minmetals' Vice President and Party Group Member, and relevant heads of International Business Management Division of China Minmetals attended the conference.