Recently, Yin Li, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, held separate meetings with Takemi Keizo, Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Peter Guenter, Member of the Executive Board and CEO of Healthcare at Merck. Both visitors came to Beijing for the 3rd Conference of Global Health Forum of Boao Forum for Asia.
When meeting with Takemi Keizo, Yin stated that China and Japan are each other’s important close neighbors. Last November, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met in San Francisco and reaffirmed their commitment to comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan, and building a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era. This provided important political guidance for the development of bilateral relations. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Beijing and Tokyo. Following the significant consensus reached by the two leaders, Beijing will continue to strengthen its sister city ties with Tokyo, and contribute to steady and healthy China-Japan relations with sub-national cooperation. Yin expressed his hope for the two sides to further exchange and cooperate in areas concerning people’s well-being and increase experience sharing in such areas as hospital management, infectious disease prevention and control, strategies for addressing population aging, social security, and long-term care. The goal is to deliver better services to the people. More work should be done to strengthen collaboration in the health industry, especially in medical technology innovation, digital health, and health data applications. Enterprises are encouraged to invest and develop in each other’s markets. It’s also important to invigorate exchanges in various fields such as culture, tourism, education, youth, and professional training to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
During the meeting with Peter Guenter, Yin highlighted Beijing’s rich research resources and strong basic research capabilities in the medical and health sector. The city also enjoys multiple favorable opening-up policies including the “two zones” initiative. Beijing recently rolled out 32 measures to support the high-quality development of innovative medicines to further facilitate the R&D, production, and application of innovative medicines and medical devices. Beijing places high importance on intellectual property protection and is committed to fostering a market-oriented, law-based, and accessible business climate in keeping with international standards. In recent years, Merck, one of the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical companies, has maintained a positive growth trajectory in Beijing and across China. Yin encouraged the group to increase its investment in high-quality medical products in Beijing, and accelerate simultaneous R&D, registration, marketing, and commercialization of global innovative drugs in the city. Its Beijing R&D center can also be leveraged to promote joint scientific research and talent development in the medical and health sector. Moreover, the two sides could enhance collaboration in areas such as oncology, cardiovascular diseases, and assisted reproduction, support innovative enterprises in fields like innovative drugs, cell therapies, and genetic medicines, and help Beijing’s businesses and products expand globally.
Takemi Keizo highlighted the importance of deeper cooperation in the health sector for comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan. Beijing has seen rapid advancements in areas like digital health, providing a wealth of valuable experience. The similar heath challenges facing both sides mean that there is opportunity to deepen experience exchanges and mutual learning in such areas as population aging, health insurance, medical education, and nursing professionals training, thereby achieving more practical cooperation outcomes.
Peter Guenter expressed gratitude for Beijing’s strong support for Merck’s development in the city. Given Beijing’s vast market opportunities, Merck will increase its investment, strengthen research collaboration with medical institutions in the city, support the development of innovative enterprises in the medical and health sector, and introduce more high-quality innovative drugs, in an effort to make greater contributions to the people’s health and well-being.
Kanasugi Kenji, Japanese Ambassador to China, and Jin Wei, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Beijing, attended the meetings respectively.
(Written by Fan Junsheng)
