Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward proposals for dealing with major issues in international economic and social development and tackling the ongoing global financial crisis at the 16th APEC economic leaders' meeting on Saturday.

Addressing int'l prominent issues

Hu presented five proposals for addressing the prominent issues in international economic and social development.

First, APEC member economies should build consensus and promote sound development of the multilateral trading regime, Hu said.

"A fair and open multilateral trading regime is conducive to the steady growth of regional and global trade, to the sound growth of the world economy and to the benefits of all parties," he said.

"We should have strong confidence in the multilateral trading regime and give strong support to the Doha Round negotiations," he added.

Second, APEC member economies should take up responsibilities and jointly tackle climate change, he stressed.

All parties should, in keeping with the requirement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," actively conduct negotiations for the implementation of the "Bali Roadmap" and take effective policy measures in light of their respective conditions to mitigate climate change.

Third, exchanges and cooperation should be conducted and efforts joined to combat natural disasters, Hu said.

In order to increase exchanges and cooperation in disaster response in the Asia-Pacific region, China has put forward the APEC Principles on Disaster Response and Cooperation this year, he said.

"It is also our hope that APEC members will consider carrying out long-term cooperation projects in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction so as to deepen APEC cooperation in disaster prevention and relief," he added.

Fourth, regulation and guidance should be enhanced and corporate social responsibility strengthened, he said.

"An important lesson we have learned from the ongoing financial crisis is that while trying to maximize economic returns, enterprises should follow a prudent, well-thought-out and responsible approach in market operations," he added.

Fifth, APEC members should take coordinated actions and ensure world food and energy security, Hu emphasized.

"We should, following the principle of common development, actively and effectively coordinate our policies and resort to a variety of joint measures to safeguard world food and energy security," he said.

"We should establish and act on a new energy security concept that calls for mutually beneficial cooperation, diverse forms of development and common energy security through coordination," he added.

Tackling financial crisis

"The rapidly-spreading international financial crisis, with its extensive impact, constitutes the most severe challenge confronting world economic growth," Hu said.

It is a major and urgent task for all countries and regions to deal effectively with financial risks, maintain international financial stability and promote world economic development, he added, lodging three proposals.

First, to curb the worsening financial crisis, all countries should take prompt and effective measures, enhance macroeconomic policy coordination, improve information sharing, help each other as much as possible, and employ all necessary fiscal and monetary means to stop the spread and development of the financial crisis, bring stability to global financial markets, stimulate economic growth, minimize the damage of the financial crisis on the real economy and avoid a global economic recession.

Second, the international community should earnestly draw lessons from the ongoing financial crisis and, based on full consultations among all stakeholders, undertake necessary reform of the international financial system in a comprehensive, balanced, incremental and result-oriented way, with a view to establishing a new international financial order that is fair, just, inclusive and orderly and fostering an institutional environment conducive to sound global economic development.

"The reform of the international financial system should both reflect the general law and principles of financial regulation and take into account the specific development stage and unique features of different economies," he said.

It should seek a balance among the interests of all parties and reflects, in particular, the interests of emerging markets and developing countries, he added.

Third, from a long-term perspective, it is necessary to change those models of economic growth that are not sustainable and to address the underlying problems in member economies.

"We should also pay adequate attention to the impact of the financial crisis on the developing world and provide necessary support to relevant countries to help them maintain growth momentum," he pointed out.

APEC's further development

On APEC's development, President Hu said China is ready to work with other APEC members to promote its further development.

Since its launch almost 20 years ago, APEC has done a great deal in promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and economic and technical cooperation, thus making positive contribution to regional economic integration and the building of an Asia-Pacific family, President Hu said.

The host of major reform measures adopted within the APEC framework in recent years have improved APEC's organizing and coordinating capabilities and significantly enhanced the dynamism and efficiency of APEC cooperation, Hu said.

To promote the further development of APEC, "we should maintain the nature of APEC as a forum for economic cooperation and its approach of conducting cooperation on a non-binding basis, as this best suits the diversity prevailing in the Asia-Pacific," the Chinese president said.

He said that the APEC members should continue to promote balanced progress in economic and technical cooperation and trade and investment liberalization.

"In particular, we should increase input in economic and technical cooperation to enhance capacity-building in developing members and narrow the development gap."

Hu arrived on Wednesday for a state visit to Peru and the Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The APEC economic leaders' meeting opened in Lima on Saturday to discuss such issues as the ongoing global financial crisis, the Doha Round trade talks and food security.

The two-day meeting would also discuss the APEC regional economic integration, corporate social responsibility, human security, APEC institutional reform, trade and investment, structural reform, anti-corruption and transparency, economic and technical cooperation, and climate change.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2008)