The knowledge economy is on the rise, and international competition is intensifying. In the new century, Asia faces both tremendous opportunities and severe challenges. In the past two decades and more, Asia has by and large maintained a relatively high rate of economic growth, with constant progress in industrialization and modernization of countries and rapid rise in the living standards of the people. At present, Asia takes up a quarter of the global economic aggregate and more than half of the global foreign exchange reserves. Asia has gradually gained economic recovery from the financial crisis of 1997 and is still one of the fastest growing and most vibrant regions in the world.
Asian countries have a fairly sound economic basis and big potentials for development.
The Asian people display their spirit of perseverance and extraordinary creativity. I am confident that with the determination to make progress and by earnestly summing up experience and drawing lessons, improving the mode of development as well as starting good practices and weeding out bad ones, Asia will be able to recreate a miracle in economic development in the new century. In face of the challenges and opportunities economic globalization brings with it, it is necessary for Asia to further expand and deepen economic cooperation in the region. As an inevitable process of development, economic globalization has both positive and negative repercussions. Regional economic cooperation helps countries to complement one another and is conducive to effective allocation of resources, to more trade and mutual investment and to better capacity to ward off risks and enhance overall competitiveness.