Beijing, 19 June 2008
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to meet so many new and old friends here in Beijing. First of all, on behalf of the National People’s Congress of China and the Chinese people, I would like to extend our warm congratulations on the opening of the Fifth Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP) in Beijing, and express our sincere welcome to the new members: parliaments of India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Romania and Bulgaria. I would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the speakers and parliamentarians for attending the meeting.
To strengthen Asia-Europe cooperation and promote common development is an issue of mutual interest to people of all countries in Asia and Europe. By choosing this as its theme and focusing on the role of parliamentary partnership in this regard, this meeting has followed the trend of the times and the popular aspirations of all Asian and European countries and is of great significance to enhancing mutual understanding, facilitating pragmatic cooperation and promoting common prosperity.
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A massive earthquake measuring a magnitude of 8.0 and intensity of 11 struck Wenchuan county of Sichuan province of China on 12 May, causing tremendous loss of life and property and huge damage to economic and social development. This earthquake has been the most destructive one and affected the largest area since the founding of the new China, making rescue and relief work most difficult. In face of the disaster, the Party and Government of China led the whole country and the military in a tenacious fight against one difficulty after another. No time was lost and more than 6,500 people trapped in the rubble were rescued. Over 1,700,000 injured received prompt treatment and more than 15 million affected people were transferred and resettled, including over 1.4 million who had been stranded. Transportation routes to the quake zones were reopened and communications and the power grids were restored in the shortest possible time. Hazards posed by serious secondary disasters such as quake lakes have been effectively defused. No major epidemic has broken out in the wake of the devastating disaster. People are engaged in production and post-disaster reconstruction in an orderly manner to provide for and help themselves. The quake zones enjoy social stability and people feel stable and secure. This is significant achievement for the current stage of our rescue and relief efforts.