She made the remark at a reception to mark the 20th anniversary of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Thanks to the joint efforts of both countries, Wu said, bilateral economic cooperation has achieved notable results over the past two decades.

She said that the China and Japan are important trade partners and have established a framework of cooperation that is complimentary, diversified, stable and growing.

Presently, further development of bilateral economic cooperation is an important part of friendly cooperation between the two countries, Wu said, adding that the strengthening of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation is in the interest of the peoples of both countries and is beneficial to the development and prosperity of the Asian economy.

According to Chinese Minister of Finance Xiang Huaicheng, China's reform and opening-up drive has provided opportunities for Sino-Japanese economic cooperation.

The minister noted that the development aid provided to China by the Japanese government is an important part of bilateral economic cooperation.

Statistics show that by the end of June this year, the Japanese government had provided 2,675.5 billion yen in development aid to China, including 2,453.5 billion yen in loans, 112 billion yen in grants and 110 billion yen for technological cooperation.

The minister said that economic cooperation between China and Japan covers an increasingly widening range such as transportation, energy, telecommunications, education, medicine, agriculture and water conservancy, environmental protection, social security and public infrastructure, with related projects carried out in all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in the Chinese mainland.

The cooperation has played an active role in supporting China's effort to boost economic growth, and improve the investment environment and the people's living standards, as well as in personnel training, Xiang said.

The reception was jointly held by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

More than 300 people from both China and Japan attended the reception.

(People’s Daily 10/09/2000)