Ｔｈｉｒｄ Ｍｅｅｔｉｎｇ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｓｐａｉｎ Ｆｏｒｕｍ Ｈｅｌｄ ｉｎ Ｓｈａｎｇｈａｉ

The third meeting of the China-Spain Forum with the theme of “strengthening cooperation in an all-round and mutually-beneficial way” was held in Shanghai from March 21 to 22， 2006. In line with the development of new situation and the need of strengthening China-Spain cooperation， the Legal Committee and the Committee of Regions and Cities were set up at the meeting， and on the basis of the second meeting of the Forum in Barcelona， the Second Sino-Spanish Entrepreneurs’ Summit of the China-Spain Forum was held.

Chen Haosu， CPAFFC president and executive chairman of the Forum presided over the opening ceremony. Chen Liangyu， member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee， and secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC， Miguel Angel Moratinos， Spanish foreign minister， and Hu Qili， chairman of the Forum’s Chinese Committee and Juan Antonio Samaranch， chairman of the Forum’s Spanish Committee spoke at the opening ceremony.

In his speech Executive Chairman Chen Haosu said， the Chinese and Spanish governments have a good relationship. In order to have a more solid social basis for bilateral relations， leaders of the two countries decided to set up a platform for non-governmental exchanges and cooperation---the China-Spain Forum， as a supplement to the governmental cooperation. I am sure that the third meeting of the Forum held in Shanghai will carry forward the achievements already made and deepen our exchanges， expand our cooperation and enhance our friendship so as to let the flower of Sino-Spanish friendly cooperation flourish and bear more fruits.

In his speech， Chen Liangyu said， through this meeting， particularly through frank exchanges and face-to-face contacts between entrepreneurs of the two countries today and tomorrow， the two sides will surely enhance mutual understanding and trust， find room of cooperation in more extensive fields and achieve win-win results of mutual benefits.

Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos said in his speech， the Forum’s third meeting held in Shanghai gives us a chance to know the most vigorous and innovative China. The activities such as the Forum for mutual exchanges promoted by the two countries have built a bridge between China and Spain， and deepened friendly relations and exchanges between the two countries. Here I want to express the wish of the Spanish Government to make the Forum an activator for cementing comprehensive strategic partnership. The success of the Forum will deepen the reciprocal relationship between the two governments， enhance its vitality and strength and expand the participation of the non-governmental organizations of the two countries.

In his speech， Hu Qili said， this meeting was held at the best time of China- EU and China- Spain relationships. To further substantiate and deepen Sino-Spanish comprehensive strategic partnership is an important task of the Forum in the new era. I think that in order to keep pace with the times and accomplish this task entrusted us by history， we should be both innovative and practical. In recent years Sino-Spanish cooperation in legal sector has made a breakthrough， and cooperation between the regions and cities of the two countries has a great potential. At this meeting we will set up the Legal Committee and the Committee of Regions and Cities， and hold the Chinese and Spanish Entrepreneurs’ Summit. After the meeting we will hold the Sino-Spanish Economic Cooperation Seminar in Hangzhou， capital of Zhejiang Province where Chinese medium and small-sized and private enterprises are most vigorous.

In his speech Chairman Samaranch said， the Forum’s previous two meetings are very satisfactory and have achieved the Forum’s initial goals， i.e. while highlighting the interest of the people and the government， both sides coordinate various departments of their own governments， strengthen dialogues between the government and non-governmental organizations and each set up an organ to support this mechanism. After we held the “first round of bilateral forums” in Beijing and Barcelona in 2003 and 2004 respectively， we need to reexamine this mechanism that has entered a new stage， the consolidation stage. I am sure that the Chinese Government will continue to show its good wishes and give us its greatest help so that the friendly and frank atmosphere of mutual trust will help further deepen the rich and colourful relations between the two countries.

Present at the opening ceremony， among others， were Zhang Yesui， vice foreign minister; Yuan Tao， vice chairman of the Subcommittee of Foreign Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Fu Ziying， assistant minister of Commerce; Ding Wei， assistant minister of culture; Gu Chaoxi， deputy director-general of the National Tourism Administration; Li Binghua， executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG); Tang Dengjie， vice mayor of Shanghai; Liu Zhiming， vice president of the CPAFFC; Liu Yang， executive vice president of the China Law Society; Qiu Xiaoqi， Chinese ambassador to Spain; Francisco Alvarez Cascos， Spanish minister of development; Pedro Mejia， Spanish secretary of state for commerce and tourism， and Jose Petro Sebastian de Erice， Spanish ambassador to China. After the opening ceremony a round-table meeting presided over by Chen Haosu was held. At the round-table meeting， Chinese and Spanish leading officials of various committees gave summing-up speeches， reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation in the political， economic， cultural and sports fields that they were in charge of， put forward essential suggestions on implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership and expressed their good wishes of strengthening all-round cooperation in the future.

Following the round-table meeting， the Political， Economic， Cultural and Sports Committees as well as the newly founded Legal Committee and the Committee of Regions and Cities held meetings separately， reviewing the cooperation in the past years， analyzing the existing problems， discussing measures for solving the problems and plans and projects for implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership， and through careful and repeated discussions reached consensus on the conclusive documents.

At the same time， the Second Chinese and Spanish Entrepreneurs’ Summit of the China-Spain Forum was held. The entrepreneurs who were divided into the environment and energy， telecommunications， tourism and infrastructure construction groups had in-depth discussions on further deepening bilateral exchanges and cooperation and reached consensus on some projects.

On the afternoon of March 22， the closing ceremony of the Forum’s third meeting was held at the main conference hall of the Shanghai International Conference Centre. At the ceremony， Yuan Tao， Pedro Mejia， Ding Wei， Inmaculada Martin Caro Sanchez， director general of the Sports Facility Construction Bureau of the Spanish Council of Superior Sports; Liu Zhiming， Antonio Carrigues， director of the Spanish Garrigues Lawyer’s Office; on behalf of the Political， Economic， Cultural， Sports， Regions and Cities， Legal Committees respectively， read out the conclusive documents.

In his speech at the closing ceremony， Francisco Alvarez Cascos， Spanish minister of development， said， the Spanish Government is willing to further promote the activities of the Forum in response of the desires of various social circles of Spain. Participants present at the meeting have proved through their practice the correctness of our initiation of the Forum， embodied the closeness of Spain-China exchanges， and let all of us see that both sides can benefit through dialogues.

In his summing-up speech， Chen Haosu said， President Hu Jintao’s visit to Spain in November last year and the establishment of China-Spain comprehensive strategic partnership are particularly good news for our Forum the development of which cannot be separated from the further strengthening of bilateral political relations. Last year during his visit to Spain President Hu Jintao specially met with Chairman Samaranch of the Forum’s Spanish Committee， and Prime Minister Zapatero specially came to the CPAFFC during his visit to China to attend the activities in commemoration of the second anniversary of the founding of the Forum and met with Hu Qili， chairman of the Forum’s Chinese Committee. Besides， the two meetings held at the end of 2003 and 2004 respectively drew attention and got support from the highest leaders of the two countries. We have published the collection of documents of the two meetings. Recently we began to publish the journal of the China-Spain Forum. All these are milestones of the course of development of our Forum and precious historical records of China-Spain cooperation.

Chen continued， yesterday afternoon I accompanied Foreign Minister Moratinos in his interview with reporters. He said， more than thirty years ago when Spain and China established diplomatic relations， no one had expected that bilateral relations would develop so well. Here I would like to add，it is difficult for us to estimate the level of development of China-Spain relations in the coming 30 years， but it is certain that we will make greater efforts and achieve greater success.

At the closing ceremony Chinese and Spanish chairman of the Legal Committee of the Forum signed the Joint Declaration on Cooperation and Development of the Legal Committee. The All-China Lawyers’ Association and the Garrigues Chair in Global Law at the University of Navarra signed a memorandum of cooperation. The Asia Packaging Centre and the ACEC signed the Agreement on Cooperation Between the Asia Packaging Centre and the Spanish Industrial Zone.