President Jiang Addresses Opening of 35th ADB Annual Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 10, 2002

President Jiang Addresses Opening of 35th ADB Annual Meeting

Chinese President Jiang Zemin addressed the opening ceremony of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday morning in Shanghai.

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Chinese President Jiang Zemin addressed the opening ceremony of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday morning in Shanghai.

Jiang spoke on the theme of "Unity and Cooperation in Asia for Peace and Development in the World" at the opening ceremony of the meeting which was hosted by Chinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng, who is also Chairman of the Board of Governors of ADB.

About 3,000 people attended the opening including senior officials from the 60 ADB members and international financial institutions, plus many experts.

Jiang warmly congratulated the event organizers. He said in today's world, the international situation was undergoing great changes. Peace and development remained overriding themes of modern times.

However, the unfair and inequitable old international political and economic order had not fundamentally changed. Local wars, tensions and upsets cropped up repeatedly and terrorism and other outlandish security problems became all the more pronounced.

Jiang said economic development around the world remained highly uneven. Quite a number of developing countries, in particular, were experiencing severe difficulties and the gap between the South and the North was further widening. The lofty cause of peace and development was faced with challenges which must not be overlooked.

Jiang said at such a crucial moment, the governments and people of all countries should follow the modern trend by enhancing exchanges and cooperation, carefully planning the direction of world development and working together to create a new century of peace and development.

To achieve this common historic mission, the governments and people of all countries should vigorously push for a multi-polar world and democratized international relations; strive to establish a new international economic order that suits the development levels and requirements of all countries; and fully respect the diversity in human civilizations, said Jiang.

Jiang pointed that at present, Asia was enjoying on the whole a period of peace and stability, and it remained the world's most dynamic economic region with the greatest growth potential. However, the security situation in certain Asian regions allowed little optimism and the fight against terrorism needed to intensify.

Economic globalization, while generating development opportunities, had added uncertainties to the world economic environment and made it harder for developing economies within the region to restructure and fend off external shocks, said Jiang, stressing that all Asian countries should step up their own efforts and work for closer regional cooperation.

Jiang put forward four proposals for stronger regional cooperation in Asia. Firstly, Asian countries needed to make concerted efforts to cultivate a political environment of mutual understanding and good neighborliness.

Secondly, they needed to carry out the principles of consultations on an equal footing, reciprocity and mutual benefit to give full expression to the equal rights and common interests of all parties.

Thirdly, while sticking to the principles of diversity in forms and gradual progress, Asian countries should base themselves on the existing cooperative mechanisms and constantly explore new ways of cooperation, focusing first and foremost on closer sub- regional cooperation and striving for, on such a basis, effective approaches to Asian cooperation.

Fourthly, Asian countries should continue to pursue open regionalism so that Asian cooperation would provide the world's other regions with fresh development opportunities while tapping the development potential within the region.

As the largest multilateral development agency in the region, ADB had made important contributions to Asia's economic development over the years, Jiang said. China appreciated the tremendous job ADB had done in facilitating regional efforts to remove poverty and the significant results it had achieved in promoting sub-regional economic cooperation in Asia.

China attached great importance to the vigorous role played by ADB in China's modernization drive, and was ready to strengthen cooperation with ADB, he said.

Jiang hoped that ADB would provide even more preferential funds to developing member countries so that they could make greater headway in reducing poverty and improving productivity.

He expected that ADB would keep up its vigorous support for regional and sub-regional cooperation in Asia, help forge closer partnerships among its members, uphold the just and objective development concepts and policies, and work more actively for the establishment of a new economic order in Asia and around the world.

Jiang pledged that China would participate more widely and intensively in international economic competition and cooperation, and open up even more to the rest of Asia and the world at large.

No matter how the world evolved, China would forever be a good neighbor, a good friend and a good partner to other Asian countries, and forever a staunch force in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, Jiang added.

ADB's Chairman of the Board of Governors Xiang Huaicheng and ADB President Tadao Chino also delivered speeches at Friday's opening ceremony. They covered China's cooperation with ADB, the ADB 2001 annual report, ADB development and restructuring, the economic situation in the Asia-Pacific region and regional cooperation.

Before the opening ceremony, Jiang met with Tadao Chino and delegation leaders of all ADB members.

It is the second time China has hosted the ADB annual meeting; its 22nd Annual Meeting was held in Beijing.

The three-day Shanghai meeting will discuss such topics as the economic and financial situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the outlook for development and problems faced by regional development.

The meeting will also examine and approve ADB's business conditions and pass its 2001 annual report as well as internal technical reports.

A series of multilateral and bilateral seminars is also being held during the annual meeting.

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