【正确答案】It is a great pleasure for me to come to this picturesque land of maples. First of all, please allow me to extend my heartfelt thanks to you, Prime Minister Chretien, and the Canadian Government for your considerate arrangements.
As mankind is approaching the 21st century, it is necessary for us to develop a concept as well as a modality for cooperation that are in conformity with the trend of the times by summarizing the past experience and looking into the future.
APEC is the most influential economic forum in our region and one of the most dynamic organizations for economic cooperation in the world. It has its own basic features in its approach, that is, giving full consideration to the diversity of its members and acknowledging their divergence at the level and stage of development as well as the consequent differing interests and needs; laying emphasis on flexibility, step-by-step progress and openness; adhering to such principles as equality and mutual benefit, consensus, seeking common ground while putting aside differences as well as voluntarism; and combining individual with collective actions.
Practice has proved all the more clearly that the APEC Approach, which responds to the reality in the region, is conducive to achieving a balance of rights, interests and needs of various members. It will also help its member economies to give full play to their capability for common development. Adherence to this approach affords an important guarantee for strengthened cooperation among APEC members.
The sole mission of APEC is to promote economic cooperation. It should refrain from extending the scope of its discussions to social, political security and other non-economic fields. It is necessary to concentrate our efforts on advancing economic cooperation in a spirit of doing certain things and refraining from doing other things.
Trade and investment liberalization is a relative and conditional concept for any APEC member economy. Diversity among APEC members and their actual circumstances should be fully taken into consideration and the principles of voluntarism, mutual benefit, and consensus be observed. In identifying sectors for early voluntary liberalization, members should be allowed to maintain the freedom of choice in terms of participation. Meanwhile, the differentiation between the two timetables should be acknowledged, and both the interests of member itself as well as those of other members should be considered so as to facilitate common development. Developed members should be encouraged to use their economic and technological advantages to help developing members on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and complementarity. By no means should the interests of the developing economies be compromised. Only in this way will more opportunities for cooperation be created for both developed and developing members.
Economic and technological cooperation and trade and investment liberalization are closely linked and should support each other. The rapid and dynamic advance of science and technology today has become the decisive factor behind the development of productive forces and exerted a profound impact on world economy and social life. Strengthened scientific and technological exchanges as well as technological cooperation and transfer will not only help augment the economic and technological strength of developing members, but also enhance the sustainability of economic development of the developed members. This will not only narrow the gap of development among its members but also greatly facilitate the process of trade and investment liberation.
China has lowered its tariffs on a voluntary basis several times, a drop of about 60 per cent in five years. The Chinese government has decided to lower its average tariffs on industrial products to 110 per cent by 2005. In addition, China has decided to accede to the Information Technology Agreement and started negotiations on relevant issues. We believe that such practical moves on our part will promote the development of economic and technological cooperation as well as trade and investment liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region.
In conclusion, I would like to warmly welcome the convocation of the ninth informal APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, China. We will make full preparations for this meeting. Thank you.