United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan attended a roundtable meeting on the UN in the 21st century, and listened to Chinese experts' views on the issue of world peace and security on November 17.

In his opening speech, the secretary-general pointed out that state sovereignty remains the foundation of international relations.

He noted that in the area of world security, in recent years, more and more domestic conflicts have arisen, rather than international disputes. Therefore, solutions to these conflicts will bear more and more on the cardinal principles of national sovereignty and human rights.

Controversy over this question remains, he said, adding that his is willing to listen to Chinese experts.

He also stressed dialogs between civilizations, noting that the UN has set 2001 as the year for such dialogs. Different cultures are all treasures of the mankind, and reinforcing dialogs between the various cultures will help enable peaceful co-existence among all the world's people.

The Chinese experts suggested that the principles of the UN Charter should be followed, and that the UN should listen more to developing countries in order to play an even more effective role in the new century.