Wu Bangguo (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Kasymzhomart Tokaev, chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan, in Geneva, Switzerland, July 20, 2010. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

PUSHING FOR FURTHER EFFORTS TO MEET MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament was convened 10 years after the Millennium Development Goals were adopted. Wu previously took part in the second World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2005.

Wu was busy with a tight schedule in the two days at the Geneva conference. He delivered an inaugural speech on the obligation of the international community to meet Goals, before conducting the morning session of the meeting as the deputy chair of the conference.

Wu met U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as Theo-Ben Gurirab, president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia, IPU Secretary-General Anders Johnsson, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun and World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab. They discussed speeding up efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals and supporting world economic recovery and a larger role for the United Nations.

Wu also met with parliamentary speakers of France, South Africa, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Kazakhstan. He joined parliamentary speakers of Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malawi for a breakfast meeting to discuss inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation, regular exchanges and bilateral ties.

In his inaugural speech on meeting the Millennium Development Goals, Wu called on the international community to stick to the Goals without wavering, saying achieving them would help the world economic recovery and its balance.

Wu called for cooperation, saying the international community should sincerely listen to the developing and least developed countries and consider their appeals, in addition to pushing for the balanced development of the world economy to benefit the most people.

He urged developed countries to deliver what they promised and the developing nations to explore ways to achieve growth and reduce poverty. The top Chinese legislator also urged peace in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, saying that peace was fundamental to such efforts.

The international community should stick to peace in resolving regional and international conflicts, oppose terrorism, separatism and extremism and respect the diversity of the world's civilizations, he said.