Ge Honglin, Mayor of Chendu Municipal Peoples Government

Good morning!

Your Excellency Mr. Dominique de Villepin, Former Frime Minister of France, honorable Mr. Quesnot, all the leaders and distinguished guests present and ladies and gentlement:

First of all, please allow me to appreciate the great efforts Asia-Pacific CEO Association has made for the success of this Summit.

Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan with a permanent population of 13 million, is the center of science and technology, trade and commerce and finance as well as the hub of communications and transportation in the southwest part of China determined by the State Councile, one of the first historically and culturally famous cities in China, and the pilot area for planing the whole range of reforms in both urban and rural areas. In 2007, this city received 332.4 billion yuan for GDP, 99.66 billion yuan for financial revenues, realized 238.5 billion yuan of fixed assets investment and reached 135.7 billion yuan in retail sales of social consumers' goods. Although our city was nagatively affected by the extraordinarily serious earthquake this year, its GDP is still expected to exceed 12%. Chendu has been not only awarded the China's Model City for Environmental Protection, the Best Tourist City of China, National Forest City, National Garden City, the Best City for Commerce in China and the Most Vibrant City of China, but also judged by the World Bank as the Model City For Investment Environment in Inland China.

Chendu enjoys unique comparative advantages for develompent over the majority of other cities. First, its market covers an extensive range including the 250 million population of the six provinces and cities in the southwest as well as the more than 87 million population of its own. Second, it enjoys sound infrastructure and a speed and efficient network of transportation. Chengdu Two-Way International Airport is the fourth largest airport in China with more than 200 domesitc air lines and 27 international air lines. Third, Chendu has perfect financial services. Currently, there are 26 financial institutions and 15 financial service centers home and abroad. Fourth, Chendu is highly open to the world and the converging place for foreign businessmen to invest in the west part. Fifth, Chendu is very effective in protecting the intellectual property rights and is the first demonstrative city in China for intellectual property work.. Sixth, the government of Chendu delivers efficient and standard services. Chendu has been committed to delivering standard government services all these years and is among the most efficient governments nationwide. This destructive earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, had caused grave deaths and losses of properties in the four outer cities and counties near the epicenter, but their total economic output accounted for only 12% of the city. Besides, due to the special geological stucture of Chendu Plain, the city proper and most of the counties were not affected that much and the accumulated comprehensive strenghth and foundations remained. Therefore, our economy continues to maintain a rapid and healthy development momentum and implies huge business opportunities.

In the face of the current economic situation, our city will increase investment in post-disaster reconstruction, the people's livelihood, construction of instrustructure and optimization of industrial structure. It is expected that the investment realized will reach 1.2 trillion yuan by 2010, which provides the investors home and abroad with a vast space for development and enormous investment opportunities. In today's world, cooperation and development are the theme of the time. Especially against the backdrop that the financial crisis keeps deepening and the global ecomomic growth slows down considerablly, the convening of this Summit, which focuses on coping with the financial storm, promoting global industrial transfer and inovations of world economy and speeding up the reconstruction of Sichuan and Chengdu after the disaster, is of realistic significance. This Summit held in our city is a powerful support to speed up the recovery and reconstruction of Chendu and build up confidence in economic development and will surely become a bridge to strenthen communication and cooperation among the cities in the Asian Pacific region as well as create excellent opportunities for domestic and foreign enterprises to seek new investment fields. Let us join hands and make new efforts to boost the prosperity and progress of the Asian Pacific economy and the world economy at large to create a better tomorrow.

Finally, I wish the 4th International Cooperation Summit for Asia-Pacific CEOs & Provincial Governors and Mayors a complet successs. Wish all the distinguished guests and friends a good time. Thank you !