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residing over the BRICS Leaders'Meeting, Hu Jintao, President of thePeople's Republic of China, shared histhoughts on how to bring about apeaceful, prosperous and tranquil 21st century. Whenspeaking about his country's 12th five-year plan, thePresident pointed out that China with a moresustainable mode of development, greater socialharmony and greater openness will not only be an assetto its 1.3 billion people, but also make a greatercontribution to the world's peace and development.It gives me great pleasure to meet you once again anddiscuss with you the plans for BRICS co-operation anddevelopment. Let me begin by extending, on behalf ofthe Chinese government and people and in my ownname, warm welcome to all the leaders and delegatespresent at the meeting.The second decade of the 21st century has just begun.In the past decade, our world went through majordevelopment, major changes and major adjustments.The trend of peace, development and co-operationgained stronger momentum. The world moved furthertowards multi-polarity and economic globalisation.New changes took place in the global economicgovernance and new breakthroughs were in the makingin scientific and technological innovation. Emergingmarket economies engaged in dynamic co-operation.All these have brought valuable opportunities to thedevelopment of all countries.On the other hand, the last decade also witnessedincessant international and regional hotspots whichundermined world peace and stability. Developmentimbalance between the North and the South remainedan acute problem. Global challenges such as climatechange, environmental degradation, energy andresources security, serious communicable diseasesand major natural disasters raised wide concerns. Today, we are still confronted with the underlyingimpact of the financial crisis. Rising commodity pricesand inflationary pressure has added to theuncertainties of the world economic recovery. Globalfinancial governance remains a daunting task. Therecent political turbulence and even war in some westAsian and north African countries have affectedregional stability. There is indeed a long way to gobefore lasting peace and common prosperity can be achieved.Opportunities should be seized and challengesproperly addressed. At this historic juncture when weusher into the second decade of the 21st century, weall need to reflect on one major topic: how to bringabout a peaceful and tranquil 21st century in whichhumanity can enjoy common prosperity? I wish toshare with you my observations in this regard.First, we should endeavour to maintain world peaceand stability. Peace and stability form the prerequisiteand foundation for development. The two world wars in the last century caused mankind untold sufferingsand world economic and social development severe setbacks. It is mainly due to the relativelypeaceful and stable international environment that the world economy has been able to grow at a fast pace in the post-war era. The World Bank statistics show that none of the countries persistently under violent conflict has achieved the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Tomaintain world peace and stability so that the people can live a happy and prosperous life is theprimary responsibility for governments and leaders ofall countries.BROAD VISION,SHARED PROSPERITY116GLOBAL VOICESPHU JINTAO, PRESIDENT, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ?