| Address at the Opening Ceremony of the Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition 2009 |
| 2009-08-26 10:00 Mofcom |
  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Good morning! It gives me great pleasure to attend the opening ceremony of the Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition 2009. On behalf of the Ministry of Commerce, I would like to extend my congratulations on the opening of the exhibition, and my warm welcome to the guests from home and abroad! This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Since its founding, especially over the past three decades of reform and opening-up, China has scored remarkable achievements in both economic development and opening-up. Today, China stands as the fourth largest economy and third largest trading nation of the world, and has been the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment amongst developing nations for 16 years in a row. China has been a main contributor to world economic growth and stability. Since last year, in the face of the spreading and worsening international financial crisis, the Chinese government has reacted promptly with wise judgment and scientific decisions by shifting the focus of macro control onto “maintaining growth, expanding domestic demand and readjusting the economic structure”. While expanding home-grown demand, the country has also been trying to stabilize foreign trade. From January to May this year, inflation adjusted, the total social retail sales increased by 16.4% over the same period last year. The growth rate was 4.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year. However, due to the financial crisis, foreign trade figures are still in the low range. The volume of foreign trade fell by 24.7% in the first five months. In breakdown, export was down by 21.8%. To minimize the impact of the financial crisis, proactive measures have been taken across China. The exhibition we are hosting today is precisely an important step taken by Tibet and Qinghai toward maintaining economic growth. It is also an excellent opportunity for the international carpet industry to strengthen cooperation and exchange and to formulate a collective response to the ongoing crisis. As treasured works of art with ethnic cultural value, Tibetan carpets are becoming more and more popular among consumers from home and abroad. This exhibition has been successfully held for five times, with a total trading value of 160 million USD. It is already an important platform for opening up the western region. It has contributed to economic development in the neighboring provinces and regions, to industrial restructuring and to higher incomes for local farmers and cattle raisers. To further implement China’s Western Regional Development Strategy and promote coordinated regional development, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to build on the role of this exhibition and make it more international and more specialized. We believe, through the joint efforts of all the partners and your great support, the Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition will surely go from strength to strength and become a flagship, specialized trade show in the western region and the whole China. To conclude, I wish the Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition 2009 a complete success. Thank you. |
| (Source: English Site of Department of Foreign Affairs) |
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