On the afternoon of November 1 local time, Premier Li Keqiang, together with President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe of Japan, attended in Seoul the 5th China-Japan-ROK Business Summit.

In his address, Li Keqiang noted that adherence to the path of peaceful development serves as a foundation for smooth progress of China-Japan-ROK cooperation. Only by persisting in the path of peaceful development and properly dealing with historical issues with concrete actions in the spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking into the future can trilateral cooperation enjoy a solid foundation. In the past 16 years, with a rapid annual growth of 12 percent in their trilateral trade, the three countries have become important trading and investment partners to each other. As China, Japan and the ROK continuously develop their economy and adjust their industrial structure, their economic complementarity will not be weakened but only be cemented. It will also vigorously push forward the common development of the Asian region and sub-regions and the world at large.

Li Keqiang pointed out that under the current backdrop of sluggish recovery of world economy, the international trade is witnessing a slow growth, and China, Japan and the ROK are all confronted with downward pressure in their economy, therefore, the development of a future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership conforms to the interests of the three nations. China proposes to make joint efforts in the following five aspects:

Firstly, to expand mutual trade and open market wider to each other, intensify cooperation in logistics, customs, quality inspection and other sectors, create a free and convenient trade environment and strive to conclude the negotiations on China-Japan-ROK free trade area and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at an early date.

Secondly, to tap the cooperation potential of mutual investment. The three sides should earnestly implement the trilateral investment agreement which came into effect last year to create a convenient, fair, transparent and institutionalized investment environment in the region. Local governments of the three countries are encouraged to establish cooperative partnership in their economic development. China welcomes the ROK and Japanese enterprises to invest and develop in China, especially to increase their investment in central and western China and in high-tech fields, and encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in the ROK and Japan and combine their strengths through international cooperation in production capacity, so as to better meet the demands of developing nations and emerging markets with effective supply with high cost-performance and achieve multi-wins.

Thirdly, to expand cooperation in green growth. China is devoted to green development. Encouraged by the great business opportunities contained in the energy conservation and environmental protection sectors, China is willing to intensify industrial cooperation with the two sides in environment and new energy to build the new model for trilateral cooperation in green development.

Fourthly, to foster cooperation highlights in innovation. China will dock its strategies of innovation-driven development and mass entrepreneurship and innovation with the ROK's "Creative Economy" as well as Japan's strategy of "developing a nation via science and technology", promote joint research, technical cooperation, resource sharing, information sharing and personnel exchanges and build a platform and provide new impetus for cooperation and innovation through jointly building innovation industrial parks.

Fifthly, to improve the cooperation in people-to-people and cultural engagement, strive for 30 million times of trilateral personnel exchanges by 2020 and deepen practical cooperation in sports, education, science, technology, culture, health care, think-tanks, media, local affairs and other sectors.

Li Keqiang stressed that the three governments should grasp the political direction of trilateral cooperation, remove various obstacles and ensure the trilateral cooperation always move along the right track. It is hoped that enterprises of the three countries, big or small, seize opportunities and join efforts to set sail, so as to push the big ship of cooperation to brave winds and waves and embrace sustained progress.

Park Geun-hye noted that the three nations should accelerate the negotiations on ROK-China-Japan free trade area, promote connectivity in transportation and logistics, push forward upgrading of traditional industries, foster creativity, innovation and other industries featuring growth, intensify coordination in financial policies, enhance cooperation in investment, and improve the integration level of East Asian economy.

Shinzō Abe expressed that the three nations should actively promote negotiations on free trade area based on the signing of the investment agreement, further promote regional trade, investment and connectivity, and bring the guiding role of trilateral cooperation to economic development of

Asia into full play.

Nearly 1000 people, including senior government officials and representatives of business circles from China, Japan and the ROK, were present at the event.