The Annual Conference 2004 of the Boao Forum for Asia held the first plenary session here Saturday.

Key speakers included senior politicians and officials from Malaysia, Pakistan, Czech, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, as well as China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In his speech on "Asia searching for win-win: An Asia open to the world", former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohamad said that the pressure for Asia to open up is still ongoing. But Asian countries should narrow differences in ethnic and cultural aspects and various development stages to search for a win-win solution.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the heart and soul of the "win-win" strategy for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia in the 21st century encompasses three main aspects: transformation from a region of internal conflicts, mistrust and instability into an integrated zone of peace, security, stability and cooperation; transformation from a region of imbalanced development into a center of comprehensive and harmonized development; and transition from a region, mainly stricken by poverty, to become a dynamic epicenter of prosperity in the world.

Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali described Asia's goal for achieving a win-win result and opening to the world as a good theme, which represents both the ideal of the Boao Forum for Asia and the common aspiration of the Asian people.

Both Asia and China are undergoing major reform and transformation, said Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, who hoped more Europeans would come to witness the great achievements China, Southeast Asia and the whole Asia had made. The other speakers also focused their speeches on Asia's economic integration, the rise of a new Asia, regional cooperation and China's peaceful rise.

The plenary session was followed by a luncheon, where former US President George Bush also made a speech on China's development, the worldwide war on terror and the global trade system.  

Source: Xinhua