Foreign and Military Affairs
China stages forum to seek global cooperation
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-07 14:51
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 With the theme "New Era, New Challenge, New Vision -- Building a Future For All," the two-day forum opens on Tuesday in Beijing.[Photo/Xinhua] |
BEIJING - More than 800 political leaders, dignitaries and scholars from China and abroad gathered in Beijing Tuesday for a forum to tackle global challenges.
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Cooperation and common prosperity were the aspirations of people across the world and the correct way for the international community to deal with challenges and to promote peace and development, Hu said in the letter.
"China will hold high the banner of peace, development and cooperation, and unswervingly take the path of peaceful development," Hu said.
Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top advisory body, delivered a keynote speech at the forum.
As the world underwent profound development, transformation and adjustment, it would seek a political and economic order of justice and reason, Jia said.
China remains the world's largest developing country, he said.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it had taken a development path appropriate to its national conditions, particularly since the start of the reform and opening up initiatives in the late 1970s.
Jia said China's development is a long and arduous task. "We still need to work long and hard to achieve the development goals."
To advance peace and development, Jia proposed all countries work together to push for a full recovery of the world economy.
He called on all countries to bear in mind the global picture and work to improve the global economic governance structure.
Jia appealled for joint efforts to promote more balanced development of the world.
Participants at the forum include former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former European Commission President Romano Prodi, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, former Russian Prime Minister Evgeni Primakov, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
"I believe this new era can bring forth a new undivided but differentiated world with common agenda of common security, common prosperity and a contented world for all," Obasanjo said at the opening.
Obasanjo called for a start to move globalization beyond finance, economy and trade to global governance, common security, common prosperity and wholesomeness.
Japan's Fukuda said the world was evolving from "power civilization" to "harmony civilization."
Schroeder said the way the international community handled the global challenges of the 21st Century would determine how global cohabitation developed politically, economically and culturally.
With the theme "New Era, New Challenge, New Vision -- Building a Future For All," the two-day forum will include six panel sessions on financial issues, climate change, sustainable growth, green energy, social security and international cooperation.
The 21st Century Forum, initiated by the CPPCC, convened its first conference in 1996. It serves as a platform for leaders, academics and experts from China and abroad to explore global trends and crucial issues of common interest in the 21st Century.
