Ｓｅｃｏｎｄ Ｍｅｅｔｉｎｇ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｓｐａｉｎ Ｆｏｒｕｍ

The Second Meeting of the China-Spain Forum with the theme of “new phase of China-Spain cooperation”was held in Barcelona， from November 30 to December 1， 2004. Chinese and Spanish delegates from the political， economic， cultural， educational， scientific， sports and the press circles as well as from the local governments had constructive discussions on furthering exchanges and cooperation in extensive fields between the two countries and between China and Europe. Juan Antonio Samaranch， chairman of the Forum’s Spanish Committee， Hu Qili， chairman of the Forum’s Chinese Committee， and Chen Haosu， executive chairman of the Forum and president of the CPAFFC， among more than 400 delegates， attended the forum.

Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan Giving a Speech at the Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the second meeting of the Forum was held at the Conference Centre of Bacelona. Chairman Samaranch and Chairman Hu Qili respectively delivered an opening speech. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan also made a speech.

In his speech， Zeng said， since the first meeting of the China-Spain Forum in Beijing in December 2003， exchanges between the two countries in the fields of politics， economy， culture and sports have been pushed forward all round and bilateral friendly cooperative relations further deepened. The establishment of the mechanism of bilateral exchanges such as the China-Spain Forum has played important roles of bridge and tie in enhancing mutual understanding and developing friendly cooperative relations between the two countries.

On China-Spain relations， Vice Premier Zeng said， in the past 31 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations， exchanges between the two countries in the field of politics， economy， culture and sports have been strengthened and friendly cooperative relations continuously deepened. In recent years economic and technological cooperation between the two countries has maintained a good momentum. Spain has become an important trade partner of China among EU countries. The bilateral trade volume from January to October 2004 was nearly 6 billion US dollars. Bilateral trade in technology has been continuously developing， the total volume of contracted technology imports signed by the two sides reaching 2.9 billion US dollars. Bilateral cooperation in investment has been further expanding. So far Spain has invested in 870 projects in China. Recently Chinese enterprises also began to make investment in Spain. In the meantime， Spain is the world’s fourth largest provider of government loans to China. The amount of government loans provided in the agreements signed between the two countries has reached 4.5 billion US dollars， giving great support to China’s construction of infrastructure and industrial restructuring projects.

Zeng pointed out， China is the largest developing country in the world， and Spain is one of the developed countries in the world and the fastest growing economy in the EU. China and Spain are highly complementary in economy， and have great potential for economic and investment cooperation. To further consolidate and strengthen bilateral relations in various fields is not only in the interests of both countries， but also conducive to the cooperation between China and the EU， and between China and other Spanish-speaking countries. To push forward an all-round development of China-Spain friendly cooperative relations， Vice Premier Zeng made the following five-point suggestion: promoting bilateral trade relations， promoting cooperation in making investments in each other’s countries， improving each other’s investment and trade environment， strengthening cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises and boosting cooperation in social fields such as science， technology， education， culture， tourism， sports， etc.

In their warm speeches at the opening ceremony， Chairman Hu Qili， Chairman Samaranch， Spanish Secretary of State of Tourism and Commerce Pedro Mejía， Catalan Regional President Pasqual Maragall and Mayor of Barcelona Joan Clos gave full confirmation to the importance of increasingly closer cooperation between China and Spain， its significance to safeguarding world peace and common development and the positive role of the China-Spain Forum in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and Spanish people and strengthening bilateral exchanges and cooperation in extensive fields.

King Juan Carlos I Meeting with Chinese Delegates

On the day of the opening ceremony， Spanish King Juan Carlos met with chief Chinese and Spanish delegates at the Albeniz Palace. Hu Qili， chairman of the Chinese Committee of the Forum， Chen Haosu， executive chairman of the Forum， vice chairmen of the Chinese Committee and chief officials of the special committees and important entrepreneurs attended the meeting.

At the meeting King Carlos shook hands with Chinese delegates and had a picture taken and a cordial talk with them. He expressed his congratulations on the successful convening of the second meeting of the Forum in Barcelona. He believed that the Forum would further the relations between Spain and China and expressed his wish that the second meeting would have a full success. The King said， he had just met with Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and the two sides were satisfied with the development of China-Spain relations. Spain and the Spanish people have always cherished friendly sentiments towards China and the Chinese people and wish to further strengthen cooperation. Spain has good traditional relations with Latin America， and is willing to work together with China to develop friendly cooperative relations with Latin America. On departure， King Carlos asked Chairman Hu Qili and Executive Chairman Chen Haosu and other Chinese delegates to convey his best regards to China and the Chinese people.

Meetings of the Political， Economic， Cultural and Sports Committees

The political， economic， cultural and sports committees respectively led by Lu Guozeng， Chinese assistant foreign minister， and Rafael Dezcallar， director general of the Department of Foreign Policy of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; Liao Xiaoqi， Chinese vice minister of commerce， and Pedro Mejía， Spanish secretary of state of tourism and commerce; Meng Xiaosi， Chinese vice minister of culture and Antonio Hidalgo， Spanish secretary of state of culture; and Li Binghua， vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games， and Jaime Lissavetzky， Spanish secretary of state of sports， had in-depth discussions on the problems of common concern. The hot topics discussed were “The Triangle Relations among China， Ibero-America and Spain”， “The China-EU New Strategic Partnership”， “The Effective Multilateralism”， “Strengthening Cooperation Between China and Spain in the Advantageous Fields to Further Develop Bilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation”， “Creating a New Phase of Cultural Exchanges Between China and Spain”， “Establishing Cultural Centres and Carrying out Spanish and Chinese Language Teaching Programs”， “Promoting Comprehensive and High-level Development of Educational and Academic Cooperation Between the Two Countries”，“Diversity of Culture”， “Boosting Cooperation Between the Two Countries in Sports During the Period of Beijing’s Preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games ”， “Chinese and Spanish Olympic Activities and Their Cooperation in Sports”， “The Different Areas of Development of Chinese and Spanish Olympic Activities and Their Cooperation in Sports”，“Sports and Universities”， etc.

At the meeting of the Economic Committee， the delegates were divided into tourism， energy， infrastructure construction and general groups to discuss concrete cooperation matters in each field. Leading officials of both Chinese and Spanish departments and enterprises concerned made key speeches on further strengthening substantial exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

After discussions， the special committees unanimously held， there still exists great potential of development in bilateral relations in the fields where the relations have already continuously deepened and developed. China-Spain cooperation has broad prospects and the all-round cooperation between the two countries will enter a new phase. Thus， the China-Spain Forum will ultimately grow into a permanent organization with necessary flexibility.Both China and Spain have a vigorous economy and witnessed rapid growth in recent years， which created many business opportunities for both countries. The business circles of the two countries will further cooperate in the fields of energy， infrastructure and tourism. The Spanish Government will encourage Spanish enterprises， especially the small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in China and further cooperate with China in the financial and service industries. Spain is going to set up a branch of Cervantes Institute in China to improve the Spanish language teaching there. The two countries will add Spanish and Chinese language programs in their middle schools to facilitate language studies in each other’s country. They will exchange experience in preparing and holding Olympic Games， increase contacts between athletes， and strengthen exchanges in sports education and sports medicine.

Governments of Catalan Region and Barcelona Holding a Grand Reception

On the evening of November 30， Pasqual Maragall， Catalan regional president and Joan Clos， mayor of Barcelona， held a grand reception in Pedralbes Palace to celebrate the convening of the second meeting of the China-Spain Forum in Barcelona， capital of Catalan Region. More than 100 Chinese delegates of local governments and enterprises led by Chairman Hu Qili and Executive Chairman Chen Hasu were invited to attend the reception. About 200 Spanish delegates of various circles， and representatives of relevant institutions， nongovernmental and professional organizations of Catalan Region were present at the reception.

At the reception President Maragall and Mayor Clos expressed their warm welcome to the Chinese delegates from afar. In his speech， President Maragall happily recalled his goodwill visit to China a month before at the invitation of the CPAFFC， and expressed his admiration of the great achievements China made in economy and municipal work. He welcomed the Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Catalonia. Mayor Clos said in his speech that the friendship-city ties between Barcelona and Shanghai had promoted mutual understanding between the two peoples and friendly cooperation between the localities of the two countries.

In their speeches Hu Qili and Chen Haosu expressed their thanks to the hosts for the warm hospitality， and praised China-Spain friendship. They said， through the China-Spain Forum the two sides will give full play to their own advantages and make contributions to the promotion of exchanges and cooperation between the localities of the two countries in the economic， cultural， sports and other fields.

Chen Haosu Making a Summary Report

On the afternoon of December 1， the closing ceremony of second meeting of the Forum was held. During the meeting， Chinese and Spanish delegates of various circles had substantial and in-depth discussions on the multi-level cooperation in various areas and common development of the two countries in the fields of politics， economy， culture， sports， transportation， urban construction， energy and environmental protection. The political， economic， cultural and sports committees read out their respective conclusions of discussions. Both Chinese and Spanish speakers unanimously held that they would make concerted efforts to push China-Spain relations to a new height on the basis of the newly-reached understanding.

In his summary report， Chen Haosu said， the second meeting of the China-Spain Forum had made new progress in four basic areas， showing that the China-Spain relations are advancing with the times. In the past two days the four committees had earnest and full discussions. Their conclusive documents summed up the consensus reached at the meeting.

In the discussion at the Political Committee， the two sides affirmed the new progress made in the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries. During the time from the first meeting to the second meeting， Spain had a change in its administration， but the work of the Forum was not affected， which proved that China-Spain relations were growing mature. At the level of the central government， Spain showed great enthusiasm in promoting friendly relations with China， while China remained unaffected by the change of the situation and continued to make unremitting efforts to develop the cooperation between the two countries. It stressed the great importance of China-Spain cooperation to the development of the China-EU relations as well as to the relations between China and Latin American Spanish speaking countries. China and Spain would make joint efforts to promote the development of multipolarity， add positive factors of friendly cooperation to regional integration and make contributions to promoting world peace and development.

The two meetings of the Forum put priority on the Economic Committee. Delegates from economic and trade circles of the two countries discussed how to strengthen all-round economic and trade cooperation including cooperation in energy， tourism， infrastructure and many other specific fields. The Chinese side stated explicitly that it pursues a balanced development of trade between China and Spain， and hopes that both sides will take measures to solve imbalance of trade.

In the discussion at the Cultural Committee， all the participants believed that exchange and cooperation in the cultural area is of great importance to the progress of state-to-state relationship. To strengthen cultural， especially educational exchanges will help enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples and increase the vigour of the development of the two countries.

In the discussion at the Sports Committee， especially the Olympic Games Committee， the participants had the opportunity to review the successful experience of the 1992 Olympic Games， which was held in Barcelona， at this Forum meeting， and optimistically looked forward to the success of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The coming four years is the crucial time for Beijing to prepare for the Olympic Games. With the progress of Beijing’s preparation for the Olympic Games， the cooperation between personages of the sports circles of the two countries will exert great influence on the cause of world progress and unity of humankind.

The second meeting of the China-Spain Forum concluded in success.