Opening Ceremony of the Conference: Huang Ju

chinese version

His Excellency Mr. Huang Ju
Vice Premier of the State Council of P.R. China

Distinguished guests, delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the occasion of the opening of the 3rd Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference, I would like to extend, on behalf of the Chinese Government and in my own name, my warm congratulations on the Conference and sincere welcome to all the distinguished representatives from the road transport community all over the world as well as my heartfelt gratitude to the International Road Transport Union, the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China for organizing this Conference.

The exchanges between China and Europe could be traced back to early times. The renowned Silk Road has been an important land corridor connecting Asia and Europe since the ancient times and has played a crucial role in promoting the economic and trade exchanges and movement of people. With the construction of modern "Silk Road" and Euro-Asian land bridge, the countries concerned in Asia and Europe are confronted with a common historic mission as to how to make full use of the transport routes between Asia and Europe with the objective of furthering the economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two continents.

Transport, as the lifeline for the development of national economy, plays a critical role in promoting the economic prosperity and improving the people's living standard of a country. Since the reform and opening up, the Chinese Government has taken the development of transport infrastructure as important measures to promote national development and social progress. In parallel with the remarkable achievements made in transport infrastructure, the transport development and international road transport cooperation in China have also presented a good momentum.

In order to further accelerate road transport development, the Chinese Government formulated in December 2004 the National Expressway Network Plan aimed at establishing and improving the national integrated transport system, which plays a significant role in promoting economic development and social progress. At the same time, the Chinese Government has also promoted the establishment of Asian Highway Network in a positive and pragmatic manner. The Inter-governmental Agreement on Asian Highway Network, with its entry into force in July this year, is a milestone for regional road transport cooperation, which will promote economic, trade exchanges and social progress of all the countries in the region.

This Conference, with the theme of "Road Transport: Bridging Asia and Europe", fully reflects the faith and commitments of the Asian and European countries in developing international road transport. The Conference will promote the international road transport cooperation between Asia and Europe and have practical and far-fetching importance for enhancing the economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Asia and Europe.

I sincerely hope that all the countries in Asia and Europe and related international organizations will make use of this Conference to further strengthen communication and cooperation and to jointly discuss the ways for boosting transport development and cooperation from different perspectives with a view to working together for the common prosperity and social progress of Asia and Europe.

Finally, I wish every success of the 3rd Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference.

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