This is the fifth time that the Kansai region has sent a large-scale business delegation to China. The delegation is co-headed by Kansai Economic Federation Chairman Yoshihisa Akiyama and Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Wa Tashiro.

Zhu expressed appreciation for the efforts that the firms in Kansai made to promote mutual understanding and economic cooperation between the two countries over the years.

He said as the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries falls this year, both sides should try to create a favorable long-term political environment, a steady and healthy development of Sino-Japanese friendship, and trade and economic cooperation on the basis of the three political documents signed between the two countries.

This is in the interest of the people of the two countries and conducive to the economic development in both the Asia-Pacific region and the world, Zhu said.

(China Daily March 20, 2002)