Source: BOPUZHIKU
© SCIMEA and Bopu Zhiku
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Nobuyuki Watanabe, Consul General of Japan in Chongqing
The 2019 China-Japan Advanced Medical and New Drug R&D Summit and Achievements Transformation Conference was held on November 10, with an aim to promote the sharing of medical and new drug R&D and innovation achievements between Japan and China, and to build an international up-scale promotion platform of the pharmaceutical industry.
At the star-studded event, we interviewed Nobuyuki Watanabe, Consul General of Japan in Chongqing.
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Mr. Watanabe graduated from Shizuoka University with a law degree, and started to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan since 1983.
During the following 20 years, he joined a Chinese-learning program in Nankai University in Tianjin, China, and worked in the Embassy of Japan in China and the department of MOFA that deals with China-related affairs.
Having spent 10 years working in the Embassy of Japan in China, Mr. Watanabe is well-versed in Chinese culture. Setting foot on China for the first time in 17 years, Mr. Watanabe talked with the media outlets at the event, including Bopu Zhiku, in great delight.
When asked about how to effectively promote cooperation between Japan and southwest China, he said that compared with China’s coastal areas, the Southwest region crossed paths with Japan less frequently. However, its remarkable economic soar, an acreage three times that of Japan, and close ties with Central Asia and Europe promise a prosperous future.
Confident in the strengths of southwest China, he would like to see more cooperation and exchange between the region and Japan on the fronts of economy, culture and medicine.
Bopu Zhiku went on and asked Mr. Watanabe about the biggest strength of the pharmaceutical industry in southwest China, and the initiatives the region should adopt to work with Japan’s pharmaceutical industry and advance economic cooperation between the two countries. Humbling himself as an outsider of the medical realm, he dubbed Chengdu as the kernel of development in the Southwest and a matured hotbed for advanced medical industry. He had faith in the city’s promising prospects and hoped to see more exchange and a closer tie between Chengdu and Japan.
After returning to China as the Consul General of Japan in Chongqing, Mr. Watanabe was mostly impressed by the drastic change in Chinese people's lifestyles. He lauded that the positive attitude of the modern Chinese towards life and work was as inspiring as the country's soaring economy.
(Nobuyuki Watanabe, Consul General of Japan in Chongqing, is being interviewed)
With Mr. Watanabe’s unwavering confidence in a deeper exchange between Japan and China, the interview ended on a delightful note.
China’s vigorous growth and remarkable scientific achievements have laid the cornerstone for the 2019 China-Japan Advanced Medical and New Drug R&D Summit and Achievements Transformation Conference.
With all hands on deck, the conference will help shape Chengdu into a world-class pole of medicine and healthcare, and create a nurturing climate for bio-medical innovation up to the international standard. It is believed that Japan and China would initiate deeper exchange in advanced medicine and R&D of new drugs.
Special thanks to the conference organizer for making the interview with Mr. Nobuyuki Watanabe possible.
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