Distinguished Guests，

Ladies and Gentlemen：

It is my great pleasure to be here today at this opening of Business & Civil Society Forum and Exhibition.I am very excited to witness here an evolution of new vision and alliance among business communities and civil society organizations with a strong support from the government to join hands and work towards common development goals of the society in China and in the world.

Let me start my remark with our overall vision for development，which is the Millennium Declaration.At the Millennium Summit in September 2000，world leaders of both developed and developing countries including China adopted the Millennium Declaration.In this Declaration，a universal set of eight Millennium Development Goals（MDGs）was established.

These eight commitments - including halving extreme poverty，providing universal primary education，promoting gender equality；reducing child and maternal mortality；halting the spread of HIV/AIDS；protecting environment and building a global partnership for development - are simple but powerful objectives that every man and woman in the society can easily understand and support.In fact，the MDGs are a people’s agenda.The Millennium Development Goals can and should bring all players of the society together，may it be the governments，private sector and civil society organizations including media and academic institutions.

As you know，remarkable progress has so far been made in such areas as reducing poverty and hunger in China，and China is the among the few countries performing well in advance on most MDG indicators.However，China still lags behind in aspects of HIV/AIDS，environmental sustainability such as access to safe drinking water，and gender equality.

The process of globalization and the transition to a market based economy in China has created not only new opportunities for economic growth but also new challenges for equity within the Chinese society.

Civil society organizations have often played critical roles in filling the gaps that were left by the government in the process of reform，but were not replaced by the private sector because they are not viable businesses.

However，it is important to note that Organizations of Civil Society are neither substitute for the Government nor a band-aid where markets fail.They are the organizations that can effectively channel voices of those vulnerable people such as poor women and people affected by HIV/AIDS，which may otherwise not be heard by relevant authorities.Also，they mobilize and channel resources，both human and financial，which may otherwise not be made available to the people in need.

Let me now turn to the role of the Business Community.Two years ago，together with the China Enterprise Confederation，UNDP organized a workshop on “Global Compact and Corporate Social Responsibility”.The Global Compact is a voluntary initiative launched by UN Secretary-General，Kofi Annan，in July 2000，with the objective to bring private sectors together with UN agencies，labour and CSOs to advance universal principles in the areas of human rights，labour and the environment.The participants of the workshop assessed the impact of globalization on China’s development and the need for corporate citizenship movement.

With rapid economic globalization，new technologies have been created in response to market demands，but they are not necessarily addressing the needs of the poor，which has led to technology divides including the digital divide.

The business community can play a key role，for example，in narrowing the digital divide through provision of access to affordable information and communication technologies.It can also help provide affordable essential drugs，introduce energy saving technologies and recycling of resources，and promote HIV/AIDS education in workplace.

This Forum comes at the critical time of the development in China to form new partnerships and innovative mechanisms between the Business Community and Civil Society organizations with support of the Government to ensure that technological progress and economic growth will be accompanied by reduced inequality and empowerment of people，particularly the poor，women and other disadvantaged groups.China’s Guangcai Programme to reduce poverty in cooperation with the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce is one of the successful examples of these efforts.

To conclude my speech，I would like to quote a remark made by Ms.Sharon Capeling-Alakija，the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteer Programme，who died of cancer last week，as a way to remember her and those who volunteers to help others.She was one of the most respected senior officials of UN and was the champion of volunteerism promotion in the world including China.She said：“Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community.Financing improvements in education and health，for instance，will require significantly increased aid flows.But it should also be noted that mass literacy and immunization campaigns could only succeed with the efforts of millions of local people through traditional systems of mutual aid and self-help as well as through more modern forms of service volunteering and campaigning. And the value-added of volunteerism lies not only in ‘getting the job done’.It also enhances the quality of the action，increases the likelihood for sustainability of the results，and adds to a nation’s social capital.Harnessing this untapped potential will be key in meeting the Millennium targets.”

I wish the Forum a great success.

Thank you very much. Xie Xie！