Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) meets with President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Lee Myung-bak (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (R) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 14, 2012. Lee and Noda are in Beijing to attend the Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, the ROK and Japan on Sunday and Monday. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)


BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan on Sunday vowed to further enhance the future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership among the three countries.

They made the remarks in the Joint Declaration on the Enhancement of Trilateral Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership issued on the occasion of the fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting in Beijing.

In the political sector, leaders of the three nations agreed to further increase high-level contacts, and provide continuous and strong political support for the relations and steady development of cooperation among the three countries.

They welcomed the positive outcome of the first Policy Dialogue on Asian Affairs held this year and the previous consultations on African Affairs, Latin American Affairs and Counter-Terrorism among the three countries. They expressed support for the three countries to continue to host, on a rotational basis, the above-mentioned consultations.

They encouraged the three countries to advance cooperation in non-traditional security issues, such as piracy, energy security, cyber security, communicable diseases, terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

China and the ROK expressed support for Japan's initiative to host the "High-level International Conference on Large-Scale Natural Disasters" in July, 2012 in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region, said the document.

They reaffirmed the importance of enhancing trilateral cooperation in search and rescue to ensure maritime safety.

They also welcomed the establishment of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in September 2011 in Seoul, the ROK, and expressed support for the Secretariat to provide high-quality service and play an active role in promoting trilateral cooperation.

In the economic sector, they will further strengthen the economic and trade relations and deepen the convergence of interests, said the declaration.

They endorsed the achievements of the 9th Tripartite Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting held in Beijing in May this year and reiterated that they would enhance cooperation with a view to creating an attractive environment for trade and investment.

They endorsed the recommendations from the trade ministers that the trilateral FTA negotiation would be launched within this year. And to achieve this end, the three countries should immediately start preparation work including domestic procedures and working level consultations.

They welcomed the signing of the Trilateral Agreement for the Promotion, Facilitation and Protection of Investment, and concurred on completing their respective domestic procedures as soon as possible, so as to bring the Agreement into effect at the earliest date.

They welcomed the substantial progress in strengthening the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), including doubling its size, increasing the IMF de-linked portion and introducing the crisis prevention function.

They also welcomed further enhancing the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) as well as the successful start of surveillance activities of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).

They agreed to promote investment by the foreign reserve authorities in one another's government bonds, further strengthen their cooperation, including information-sharing, and thereby enhance the regional economic relationship among the three countries.

On promoting sustainable development, they recognized the importance of the building of the China-Japan-Korea Circular Economy Model Base and expressed their appreciation for China's efforts in proposing candidate sites of China-Japan-Korea Circular Economy Model Bases in China, and expected greater efforts to be made so that the model bases could play a demonstration role at an early date.

They welcomed Japan's offer to host the Seminar on Counter-Measures against Disaster in 2012, which was supported by the 14th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting(TEMM14) held in Beijing in May this year.

They also welcomed the cooperation among the three countries to realize green growth and low-carbon growth, ensure nuclear safety, and address potential massive earthquakes, tsunamis and volcano eruptions.

On expanding social, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, they encouraged and supported the cultural ministries of the three countries to hold more activities, especially to launch the "East Asian Cultural City" program at an appropriate time, and initiate consultations on the "China-Japan-ROK Culture and Art Festival" project in the medium to long term.

To further promote trilateral educational cooperation, they decided to continue their efforts in building the mechanism of Trilateral Education Ministerial Meeting.

They also encouraged the three countries to further ease visa requirements and expand sister/friendship city exchanges to achieve the target of 26 million tourist visits among the three countries by 2015.

On strengthening communication and coordination in regional and international affairs, they stressed the mutually reinforcing and complementary roles of the trilateral cooperation and such regional fora as ASEAN Plus One, ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, said the declaration.

They reaffirmed that the ASEAN Plus Working Groups need to be established without delay to accelerate the discussion on a regional comprehensive economic partnership towards the commencement of negotiations, taking into account the initiatives of East Asia Free Trade Area (EAFTA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA).

They will strengthen communication and coordination and work together to make a positive contribution to the success of the G20 Summit, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the ASEM Summit, the ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the East Asia Summit to be held later this year.

They look forward to the 6th Trilateral Summit Meeting, which will be held in the ROK in 2013, said the document.

The three nations also issued the Joint Statement on Agricultural Cooperation and the Joint Statement of Cooperation on Sustainable Forest Management, Combating Desertification and Wildlife Conservation on Sunday.