The Binhai Sino-Japan Energy Management(Tianjin) Co., Ltd, the first Sino-Japanese joint venture engaged in energy saving, was inaugurated in Tianjin, a north China port city, on Monday.

Located in Tianjin's Binhai New Area, the joint venture will be mainly engaged in development, manufacturing and marketing of energy-saving software and equipment, and provides energy-saving technological services for clients.

Two Japanese companies, the Energy Initiative Japan and Yazaki Corporation, hold a 70 percent stake of the 1 million U.S. dollars joint venture. The remaining 30 percent of the venture's stake are in the grip of two Chinese firms, namely the Tianjin Binhai Energy and Development Company Ltd. and the Tianjin TEDA Energy-Management and Investment Consulting co., Ltd.

Tatsuro Seguchi, chairman of the new joint venture, said that the joint venture would use advanced and applicable technologies and adopt scientific management measures to achieve the goal of making efficient use of energy and reducing overall energy consumption.

In early June this year, China's central government announced its plan to create a new economic zone at Binhai, 50 km from downtown Tianjin, that will aim to compete with the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, two economic powerhouses in south and in eastern China.

About 120 km southeast of national capital Beijing, the 2,300-sq-km Binhai New Area is a national pilot reform base listed in the country's development plan for 2006-2010 period.

The Binhai New Area attracted 4.744 billion U.S. dollars in contracted foreign investment in the first three quarters this year, up 27.9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 76.4 percent of the total inflow of foreign funds into the city in the same period.