Full Text: Li Keqiang's speech at the opening plenary of Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2016 (2)

Second, we need to jointly promote economic growth. Emerging economies and developing countries now account for 40% of the global economy. They once contributed up to two thirds of the growth of the world economy, and played a major role in the global efforts to tackle the 2008 financial crisis. But things have been tough over the past two years, as some of them have experienced significant economic slowdown and even negative growth. Asia, which is home to the largest number of emerging economies, has on the whole maintained a strong growth momentum. Last year, the growth of developing economies in Asia reached 6.5% and accounted for 44% of global growth. Therefore, Asian nations should enhance confidence, foster new impetus of growth from within, and stimulate vitality to play a bigger role for economic recovery not only in this part of the world but also globally. It is our hope that countries in the world will join hands to deepen cooperation, form synergy, strengthen macro-policy coordination, oppose trade protectionism of all forms, adopt more growth-friendly policies, and try to avoid the spillover effect of the policy adjustments in certain countries. China proposes establishment of an Asian Financial Cooperation Association, and China stands ready to work with all parties to improve Asia's financial market and prevent massive regional financial turbulence from happening again.

Third, we need to jointly deepen integrated development. To achieve development and prosperity in Asia, we must make sure that no one is left behind. China hopes to align its initiative of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with the development strategies of other countries in the region and regional organizations. Together, we could foster a new pattern of regional development through integrated planning and production and coordinated actions. China is ready to provide high quality and cost-effective equipment and production-lines that could tailor to the needs of Asian countries. We may carry out production capacity cooperation in infrastructure building and industrial equipment making. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is the biggest regional trade arrangement in Asia that attracts the largest number of participating members, and we hope that negotiations under the RCEP could be concluded by 2016. For the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, their priority should be placed on serving developing countries of Asia first, and on connectivity and production capacity cooperation projects, so that people in the region could share in the benefits of such integrated development.

Fourth, we need to jointly uphold openness and inclusiveness. Being open and inclusive is the fine tradition and very basis of Asia's culture. In Asia, over the millennia, different nations, religions and cultures have coexisted with and learned from each other and all have contributed their major share to the progress of human civilization. Almost all religions with world-wide influence originated from Asia. The people in Asia crave for peace, good-neighborliness and harmony. It is this piece of land that has given birth to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and brought into being the Asian way, highlighting mutual respect, consensus building and accommodating the comfort level of all parties concerned. Asian countries are linked by close people-to-people exchanges. Each year, several hundred million tourists travel among Asian countries. We need to make good use of all dialogue platforms in Asia to deepen people-to-people exchanges and enhance the unity of Asia. China proposes that an Asia Civilization Dialogue Conference be held and we welcome all countries and regional organizations to take an active part in the conference. The more challenging the task of development is in the region, the more imperative it is for us to join hands, build on our traditional friendship and pool our collective wisdom, so as to carry forward the Asian Consensus and achieve our common pursuit for development.

Fifth, we need to work jointly to trigger innovation. Innovation holds the key to development. Asia is home to 48 countries and over four billion population, and the "Asian miracle" was created by the talented and hard-working Asian people. To keep up the momentum of prosperity and development in Asia, we need to give full play to Asia's unique advantage of abundant human resources, and bring out the potential and creativity of all its people. Asia's new future relies on innovation and talented personnel. We need to improve education and training in Asia to build a high-quality labor force, strengthen the talent pool and increase productivity. We need to step up R&D investment, adopt new models of development, including the "Internet Plus" model, and build cooperation platforms for innovation to develop the new economy and a shared economy. We may also conduct due exchange of experience. This way, the hundreds of millions of our people, especially the young people, will have the chance to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, and have their ingenuity and creativity fully unleashed. This also allows countries in the region to quickly embark on a path of innovation-driven development and upgrade the level of growth. (mo