The Shandong pharmaceutical company Baheal Pharmaceutical Group signs an agreement on Wednesday with Japanese trading company Itochu, to deepen their cooperation. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shandong pharmaceutical company Baheal Pharmaceutical Group announced on Thursday that it had signed a new agreement on Wednesday with Itochu, one of Japan's leading trading companies, to update the cooperation between the two parties.

The two companies had previously signed an agreement in May 2018 to partner together on tapping into healthcare market potential in China, Japan and other countries. This agreement had outlined six major areas for cooperation, including over-the-counter drugs, functional cosmetics, food supplements, prescription drug manufacturing and sales, and personal care.

According to the new agreement, the two companies will deepen their existing partnership in the fields above, especially in pharmaceuticals, plastic surgery, artificial intelligence, and finance and investment.

For instance, they will expand the categories of pharmaceutical products they collaborate on for sales and will include drugs for maternal use, while emphasizing treating infant, liver, cancerous, cardiovascular and digestive diseases as cooperation priorities.

They will explore and develop home-use medical devices for cancer and chronic disease patients. In the field of cutting-edge technology and new services, the two companies will explore business opportunities in big data together.

The agreement was signed during the ongoing "Qingdao Business Week", a promotional campaign held in Tokyo to boost economic cooperation between companies from Qingdao, Shandong province, and those in Japan.

Government officials from Shandong province and Qingdao city attended the signing ceremony.

Trade between China and Japan surged 10.7 percent year-on-year to $243.71 billion in the first three quarters of 2018, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.