Confidence 'is more valuable than gold'

China is confident and capable of maintaining steady and relatively fast economic growth facing the world financial crisis, and "this in itself is a major contribution to the world economy", a senior Chinese diplomat said yesterday.

"In view of the current crisis, Asian countries should strengthen cooperation and active measures should be taken by all parties to confront the challenges," Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said. "Confidence is even more valuable than currency and gold. We must see that the Asian economy is still growing fairly fast and its fundamentals have not changed."

Zhai made the remarks while attending the 7th Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Ministerial Meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan. Delegations from 29 Asian countries participated the meeting.