Honorable Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me much pleasure to attend the opening ceremony of the Fourteenth SAARC Summit. Thank you for your kind invitation. On behalf of the Chinese Government, I wish to warmly congratulate you on opening of the meeting.

South Asia is an important part of Asia. The South Asia countries are committed to peace and development; the region is enjoying fast and sustained economic growth; good progress has been made in regional cooperation. South Asia's international standing is rising, and it is full of vigor and vitality.

SAARC, as an important organization for regional cooperation, has played an active role in promoting social and economic development as well as peace and stability in South Asia. With continued institutional development, accelerated process of cooperation and greater opening, SAARC has a bright future.

The Chinese Government follows a foreign policy of building friendship and partnership with its neighbors. A peaceful, stable and prosperous South Asia and a SAARC of unity, cooperation and progress are in the interests of all countries in the region and China. As the biggest neighbor of South Asia, China hopes that all South Asia countries will live in harmony and pursue common development and the SAARC will grow from strength to strength and play a bigger role in regional and world affairs.

China, which is committed to regional cooperation, follows closely and supports the SAARC cooperation process. We welcome and appreciate SAARC's decision to accept China as an observer. As close neighbors, China and SAARC countries enjoy deep traditional friendship and there is a strong foundation for advancing our cooperation. We all belong to the developing world, are experiencing fast growth and facing geographical location and popular support will greatly boost China- SAARC cooperation, which serves our common interests and peach, stability and development of the region.

The Chinese Government supports the objectives and priority areas of SAARC. It respects the position of SAARC countries and the principles of equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation, and is ready to carry out exchanges and expand practical cooperation with SAARC to contribute to the cooperation process of SAARC countries on poverty alleviation policy and practices of SAARC and peace and development in South Asia.

- China is ready to discuss with SAARC about establishing a cooperation mechanism for poverty alleviation and carrying out comparative study on models of poverty alleviation. It is also ready to host a workshop this year for officials from SAARC countries on poverty alleviation policy and pratices.

- China will explore with SAARC the possibility of establishing a China- SAARC regular meeting mechanism for cooperation on disaster relief and mitigation to share experience and information.

- China and SAARC can achieve a lot in cooperation in human resources development given the abundant human resources in China and SAARC countries. China will invite SAARC countries to attend multilateral training programs organized by China, and will consider hosting bilateral training programs for SAARC countries.

- China is ready to intensify cooperation with SAARC countries in infrastructure and energy sectors on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and encourages Chinese enterprises to make investment in SAARC countries. China proposes to institutionalize the China-South Asia Business Forum so that it can serve as platform for discussions on economic cooperation and trade.

- China will hold a workshop on contemporary China for South Asian diplomats and invite a delegation of senior South Asian diplomats to visit China this year. China is ready to host a seminar on China- SAARC relations for track II academic exchange to provide intellectual support to China- SAARC cooperation.

I am sure that with the joint efforts of both sides, China- SAARC cooperation will be fruitful. In concluding, I wish the Summit every success.

Thank you.