It’s a great pleasure for me to meet you again, here in Hanoi. I’d like to express my gratitude to President Nguyen Minh Triet and the Vietnamese Government for the considerate arrangements they have made for this meeting.

With the development of economic globalization and the world’s productive forces, the Asia-Pacific region is faced with unprecedented opportunities. However, at the same time, the whole world and the Asia-Pacific region in particular are encountering quite a lot of problems and various severe challenges that have to be carefully dealt with. The significance of convening this meeting at such a moment is obvious. We should have a clear idea of the world’s mainstream development and, on the basis of supporting the fundamental interests of APEC members, jointly push forward the construction of this organization and overall economic development in the region.
 
Recent years have seen the rapid growth of various cooperative mechanism and accelerated regional integration that provide the foundations for us to reach greater consensus and build up a regional cooperative concept in line with the trend of the times and the features of the Asia-Pacific region. We should deepen practical cooperation in various fields, promote common development and a win-win situation, for the benefit of all the people of the Asia-Pacific region and also contribute to the peace and development of the world. For this purpose, I suggest that we make efforts in the following four aspects.

First, Maintain Peace and Stability. A peaceful and stable environment is certainly the prerequisite for development and to maintain it we must try to deal with national relationships based on the principle of mutual trust and peaceful coexistence. When it comes to conflicts and problems that may affect regional stability, dialogue should be carried out to increase trust and remove suspicions, consultation to bridge gaps and negotiations to remove conflicts for a final peaceful solution. Effective measures should be adopted to crack down on terrorism in various forms, as well as transnational crimes. At the same time, we should pay attention to eradicate the source of these problems. Efforts should be made to promote mutual understanding between different peoples and different cultures for the elimination of misunderstandings and differences, so as to implant friendship deeply in people’s heart and lay a solid social foundation for friendly national relationships and for the maintenance of regional peace and stability. 

Second, Promote Common Development. The Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable economic achievements through several years of rapid development. However, there still exist some profound structural problems in economic and social development that create an imbalance. Especially, many developing members are weak in their economic foundations and thus still have long way to go before they can achieve comprehensive development. The gap between APEC members is a reality that we have to face. All concerned parties should make active efforts, while the developed members should try to narrow the development gap and take more practical steps to promote common prosperity in a far-sighted spirit, to help realize comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Third, Realize Cooperation and a Win-Win Situation. The in-depth economic globalization means to bring all economies closer to each other, and this especially applies in the Asia- Pacific region. Over the past decade, the region has experienced a number of major events such as financial crisis, SARS, tsunami and bird flu. The origin of these problems can be traced to more than one country and their impact is also international, meaning it is hard for a single country to cope with alone. Through close communications, strengthened coordination and concerted cooperation, we finally properly managed to deal with all these challenges. Currently, however, the Asia-Pacific region still faces such problems as price fluctuations in the energy market, imbalanced economic development and frequent outbreak of major epidemic diseases. So, to strengthen cooperation will be an effective way to solve these problems. Common challenges can always produce opportunities for cooperation. We should seize the opportunities, face up to challenges and broaden the convergent points of common interests, so as to realize a win-win result.

Fourth, Uphold Openness and Tolerance. Diversity is an important force to push forward human civilization and also a striking characteristic of the Asia-Pacific region. The ocean can hold the water from thousands of rivers and its large size is due to this capacity. Chinese culture has always advocated this spirit. To promote exchanges between different cultures and beliefs and to draw on each other’s social systems and development models will make the world a place of diversity and vitality and enable people all over the world to learn from each other and live in harmony. The Asia-Pacific region has already established several regional and sub-regional cooperative systems. We should support the coordinated development of these systems to contribute to a cooperation pattern of tolerance and complementary advantages. As for those areas beyond our region, we should also be open and tolerant to them based on the principle of open regionalism. 

Over the past years, APEC members have carried out effective exchanges and cooperation in major economic issues, greatly promoting regional and individual national economic growth. Faced with new situation in the region and the world as a whole, APEC should play a bigger role in the following aspects guided by the above principles and persistently focus on economic cooperation:

Supporting the Development of the Multilateral Trading system. This is crucial for all. The failure of the Doha Round of negotiations will benefit no country. APEC has played a major role in promoting the growth of the multilateral trading system. Currently, the urgent task is to restore the negotiations, to gain consensus on key issues as soon as possible and to put into practice the commitment that the Doha Round is firmly aimed at further development. This meeting should send a clear message to the world that the major parties concerned should work in a responsible and flexible manner to overcome their differences.

Making Great Efforts to Meet the Bogor Goals. This charts the future course of APEC and is the criteria for gauging the performance of the organization. China supports the Hanoi Plan of Action, formulated for the timely achievement of the Goals. In the coming period of time, we should make practical schemes to strengthen both individual and collective action plans. Based on the consolidation of current achievements, efforts should be made to promote trade and investment, and make them more convenient.

Here I propose to set up an APEC port service network to speed up the conformity and upgrading of local ports and supporting sectors, so as to provide more convenient conditions for trade and investment activities. I hope all APEC member states to actively support and participate in this regard.

Striving to Push Forward Economic and Technological Cooperation. This is an important means to narrow the gap in development and promote common prosperity. Many APEC members lack adequate experience and capability to deal with some of the new problems and challenges emerging in recent years in the areas of financial security, energy and public health security. We must increase input to make our cooperation more specific and practical and to help enhance developing members’ ability to take part in international competition and cope with all kind of challenges. Here, I’d like to announce that the Chinese Government will contribute US$2 million to the APEC Support Fund to strengthen economic and technological cooperation in the region.