Focus on China

Hu attends G20 summit, meets foreign leaders

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-28 15:11

TORONTO, Canada - Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the fourth summit of Group of Twenty (G20) in Toronto on Sunday. On the sidelines of the summit, he met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday.

Speaking at the summit, Hu said it is "imperative and incumbent" for the G20 to help developing countries achieve full development and narrow the development gap between the North and South.

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The G20 is primarily composed of developed countries, emerging markets, and developing nations with a relatively higher level of industrialization, Hu said, adding that the combined GDP of G20 members accounts for 85 percent of the world's total.

"However, we should not neglect the development aspirations of other developing countries, which take up more than 85 percent of countries in the world," he said.

Hu also said the world economy is gradually recovering thanks to the concerted efforts of G20 members and the entire international community.

However, he warned that the recovery was unfirmly established, unbalanced, and still facing "quite many uncertainties," such as the expanding sovereign debt crisis, drastic exchange rates fluctuations of major currencies and persistent volatility in the international financial markets.

Seeking to address these problems and materialize a strong and balanced growth worldwide, the president laid out a three-point proposal.

"First, we need to turn the G20 from an effective mechanism to counter the international financial crisis to a premier platform for advancing international economic cooperation," he said.

Secondly, the Chinese leader said, "we need to accelerate the establishment of a new international financial order that is fair, equitable, inclusive and well-managed."

Thirdly, he called for advancing "the building of an open and free global trading regime."

"We must take concrete actions to reject all forms of protectionism and unequivocally advocate and support free trade," the president said.

On the sidelines of the summit, Hu also met separately with new Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

It was the first meeting between the two since Kan became Japanese prime minister early this month.

The Chinese president said the two countries should increase high-level communication so as to enhance strategic trust and confidence.

He also said leaders of the two countries should maintain close contact and help promote extensive dialogue and exchanges between the governments, political parties, parliaments and defense authorities of both countries.

Also on Sunday, Hu and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held talks. The two leaders vowed to further enhance the strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries.

The Chinese president said cooperation between the two sides had been increasingly strengthened in various sectors, including politics, economy and culture, since the establishment of the bilateral strategic partnership of cooperation in 2008.

He also expressed China's support for South Korea to host the Fifth G20 Summit in November this year, expressing his belief that the meeting would be a success.

Later in the day, Hu left Toronto, the largest city of Canada, for home after paying a state visit to Canada and attending the G20 summit.