TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's industry minister called Tuesday for fast-growing China and India to work to conserve energy ahead of a five-nation conference in Beijing this weekend.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari held talks with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who was visiting Tokyo ahead of the Beijing meet.

Amari said to Bodman, "It's important that China and India, the countries with big consumption, address energy conservation," as quoted by Jiji Press.

Amari and Bodman are to participate in five-way energy talks Saturday with their counterparts from China, South Korea and India.

Resource-poor Japan, relying for most of its oil and other energy sources on imports, has developed high-level energy-saving skills.

It was the host-nation of the Kyoto Protocol, the pioneering environmental treaty which the United States has refused to join.