China and Japan signed a new agreement of medical cooperation on Feb 17 in Beijing, which aims to deepen cooperation within the field.

Cui Li (fourth from right), deputy minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, attended a signing ceremony between China and Japan on medical cooperation.

Cui Li, deputy minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), attended the signing ceremony of China-Japan Sasakawa Medical Cooperation program where she made a speech.

The five-year program is aimed at fostering high-end medical talent for China and encourages collaborated research between the two countries in frontier domains.

The program was originally known as the Sasakawa Medical Scholarship, which launched in 1987.

As part of the exchange program for medical personnel between China and Japan, China sent about 80 Chinese doctors and nurses to Japan every year for them to pursue further studies or research at medical universities and hospitals throughout Japan. 

Cheng Yonghua, China's ambassador to Japan, said, "The Sasakawa Medical Scholarship program is highly effective and both sides vigorously promote the cultivation of China’s medical talents."

"At the same time, it also promotes mutual understanding between the two countries and plays a positive role in advancing mutual trust," Cheng said. 

Over the past thirty years, around 2,200 medical workers in China have benefited from the program in over ten different subjects, including foundation and clinical medicine. 

Many of the medical personnel who joined the program have since become leading researchers and renowned doctors throughout China. 

Representatives from the health sector in Japan, including Japanese ambassador to China Yokoi Yutaka, Nippon Foundation President Takeju Ogata, and the Japan China Medical Association President Ogawa Hideoki, also attended the ceremony.

Wang Liyan contributed to this story.