However, the development of the world is unbalanced or even inharmonious. It still faces many difficulties and complicated problems. The goal of realizing democracy in international relations is far from being attained. The unjust and irrational international political and economic order remains unchanged. The gap of wealth between the North and the South as well as the digital divide are widening further.
Regional conflicts keep cropping up.
It will be a long and uphill journey to bring about a lasting peace and common development of mankind. In the new century, it is the responsibility of statesmen and people of all countries to find ways to seize the rare opportunities for development, appropriately tackle various contradictions in the world, jointly overcome difficulties on our way ahead and push forward the development of the human society. Asia and Europe can not develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and Asia-Europe cooperation can bring benefit to the world. As a highly influential trans-regional cooperation mechanism, ASEM should make more contributions to peace, security, development and prosperity of Asia, Europe and the world at large. In this connection, I would like to share with you some of my views.