President Hu Jintao called in Gleneagles Thursday for more North-South and South-South cooperation in world development and climate change.  

He made the call at a dialogue meeting between the Group of Eight (G8) leaders and leaders from five developing countries -- China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.

Addressing the meeting, President Hu said the world faces unparalleled opportunities and many challenges following world multipolarization, and marked advance of science and technology, urging the leaders to join hands to create a brighter future.

The Chinese president made a four-point proposal in this regard:

l         To make concerted efforts to maintain a steady world economic growth. To this end, we should commit ourselves together to take effective fiscal and monetary policies, readjust our economic structures and promote a balanced and sustained development of the world economy.

l         To step up policy consultation and push for solutions to the deep-rooted problems that impede world economic development. "We should facilitate reforms to international financial institutions, back up the development of the multilateral trading regime and cultivate a fair, just, reasonable and open trading environment and work together to stabilize the international energy market and create an adequate, secure, cost-effective and clean energy environment for world economic growth."

l         To carry out result-oriented cooperation to implement the Millennium Development Goals. Developed countries should come up with workable plans to make good on their pledges concerning funding, debts and market access. Developing countries should actively promote structural reforms and adjustment at home to create a better environment for development.

l         To deepen North-South dialogue aimed at establishing a new type of partnership. North-South dialogue should be conducted on the basis of equality, flexibility, pragmatism and consensus building in a bid to strive for a win-win result by drawing on each other's strong points and going for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Chinese president said more attention should be given to the development of Africa and the developed countries should honor their promise of aid and debt relief.

China would continue to support and help African countries, he noted.

On climate change, the president said the question is both "an environment issue and development issue" but "in the final analysis, falls in the category of development."

"Though countries differ in perceptions of the problem and in choices of the countermeasures, they share a basic consensus for cooperation, dialogue and concerted efforts in meeting the challenges brought by climate change," he said.

"To enhance international cooperation in climate change, it is necessary first to uphold the guiding role of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and observe such principles as 'common but differentiated responsibilities' enshrined in the Convention," he added.

President Hu said China is a "responsible developing country," and China has taken a series of policies and measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emission in tackling climate change.

"We have stepped up efforts to readjust the economic structure, transform the mode of economic growth, rein in energy-guzzling industries, and build towards a national economy that is structurally resource-effective and energy-effective," he said.

"China is now working on a national strategy on climate change to keep up efforts at greenhouse gas emission reduction while working with other countries to actively address the issue of global climate change," he stressed.

Hu calls for fair, transparent 'multilateral trade regime'

Hu called for the establishment of an "open, fair, rational and transparent international multilateral trade regime" and said the Doha Round should "push for trade liberalization and expand market openness."

"The development of the world's multilateral trade regime is now at a critical moment," he said.

However, the Chinese president said, trade barriers, frequent trade frictions and trade protectionism are hampering the regime's healthy development and creating new uncertainties for global economic growth.

The establishment of an open, fair, rational and transparent international multilateral trade regime that is non-exclusive and non-discriminatory contributes to the stability and growth of regional and global trade, promotes a balanced and sustained expansion of world economy and serves the interests of all parties, Hu noted.

On the Doha Round, he said that as developing members account for 85 percent of WTO membership, negotiations should take full account of the development level and tolerance of the developing members and leave them with necessary policy leeway in terms of special and differential treatment to implement development strategies consistent with their own conditions.

"The Doha Round should aim to earnestly push trade liberalization and progressively expand market openness," the Chinese president said.

Hu called on the international community to work together to make the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference a success and pave the way for completing the Doha negotiations in 2006.

"We should seize the opportunities, show good faith, sort out the difference and expand the common ground so as to push the negotiations forward with a flexible and pragmatic attitude," said the Chinese president.

As to the role played by his country in world trade, Hu said the Chinese government has been a supporter for and active participant in the multilateral trading regime.

Since joining the WTO, China has strictly lived up to its commitments by improving and updating its laws and regulations and increasing its openness to the outside world, he said.

China, which has become the third largest importer globally and the largest in Asia, promises a tremendous market potential, said the Chinese president, adding that with a total import and export volume of US$1,154.8 billion in 2004, China has become an important growth engine for world economy.

Hu said his country's development goal is to quadruple its 2000 GDP by 2020, reaching US$4 trillion with a per capita GDP of some US$3,000, noting that this quadrupling will apply to both the scale of the Chinese market and its aggregate demand.

"I am confident that, during this process, many countries in the world will benefit from China's development and find for themselves huge business opportunities," he said. "Not only the Chinese people will become better off from a more prosperous China, the whole world will enjoy the opportunities of development it brings along."

The Chinese president concluded that as its economy expands, China is bound to make even greater contribution to world economic growth.

Development is most important for developing nations

Hu said that development is the most important task for the developing countries and he called for efforts to promote South-South cooperation and North-South dialogue.

"To developing countries, no task is greater than eliminating poverty, promoting development and delivering higher living standards to their population," he said.

To seek development, the Chinese president said, developing countries should both rely on themselves and open up to the outside world for competition and cooperation.

Hu urged developing countries to stay united, saying conducting policy consultation and coordination and taking concerted actions on major international issues will help these countries safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

As developing countries have different national conditions, they have different views on certain issues, said the Chinese president.

The key to resolving whatever problems they have is to seek common ground on major issues while shelving minor differences, he added.

The Chinese president also called for promotion of South-South cooperation with innovative thinking, saying developing countries should expand channels of cooperation to become mutually complementary partners in win-win cooperation.

He also called for efforts to facilitate North-South dialogue by making the best of the existing advantages. "We should continue to urge developed countries through various channels to work still harder in ensuring a balanced development globally by earnestly making good their relevant commitments and promoting universal prosperity and common development," he said.

Hu also mentioned trade protectionism and climate change.

"In recent years, trade protectionism has raised its head" said Hu. Such mechanisms as G20 should continue to be used so as to intensify cooperation and give a strong boost to the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations at the organization's sixth Ministerial Meeting scheduled for late this year.

Leaders of the G8 and the five developing countries were gathering here to discuss the global economy, climate change and other major world issues.

Prior to the meeting, the leaders joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair to adopt a statement, condemning terrorist attacks in London. Blair then left for London to tackle the emergency.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2005)