The Belt and Road initiative has made significant progress in Eurasia, where it was launched. This year, China and Russia, as two major countries on the Eurasian continent, further coordinated their development strategies, signed the joint statement on coordinating development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union, set up a coordinating mechanism and decided that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be the main platform for advancing this goal, thus greatly boosting the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative in Eurasia. Over the course of this year, China has signed cooperation agreements on pursuing the Belt and Road initiative with almost all Central Asian and Transcaucasian countries. In two days' time, the annual meeting of the prime ministers of the SCO member states will be held in Zhengzhou, which will be a good opportunity for China to further discuss with Eurasian countries effective ways of enhancing integration and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Belt and Road initiative has created closer linkages between the development of China and Europe. The two sides decided to synergize the Belt and Road initiative and the Investment Plan for Europe, discussed the establishment of the China-EU Joint Investment Fund and set up the Connectivity Platform. China and the UK explored the possibility of cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative and the UK's National Infrastructure Plan and the Northern Powerhouse program. China and Germany established a mechanism of aligning "Made in China 2025" and Germany's Industry 4.0 initiative. The Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) are the eastern gateway of Europe. China has signed governmental MOUs on pursuing Belt and Road initiative with six CEECs, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Under the "16+1" cooperation framework, China and CEECs also decided to launch a cooperation initiative involving ports of the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas, accelerate the opening of the China-EuropeLand-Sea Express Line with the Budapest-Belgrade railway link as its main component, and explore a new connectivity cooperation framework.

The Belt and Road initiative has boosted the prospect of Asia's prosperity. In Northeast Asia, China and the ROK decided to synergize four development strategies. China and Mongolia agreed to link the Silk Road and Mongolia's Steppe Road initiative. China, Russia and Mongolia reached important consensus on building an economic corridor linking the three countries and signed the medium-term roadmap for trilateral cooperation. In Southeast Asia, China and Indonesia agreed to speed up the alignment of their development strategies. China and Vietnam have intensified consultations on cooperation between the Belt and Road initiative and "two corridors and one ring" initiative. China and Singapore explored the possibility of jointly opening market in third countries under the Belt and Road initiative. Important progress has been made in enhancing connectivity between China and Southeast Asia. China and Indonesia agreed to jointly build the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. Construction of the China-Laos railway and China-Thailand railway will soon begin. Work of charting the route of the China-Vietnam railway has accelerated. Thanks to these efforts, the long-expected Pan-Asian Railway network has got off ground. In South Asia, China and India have strengthened Belt and Road cooperation in infrastructure. The roadmap of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has been further refined and a number of key projects have been launched. Initial progress has been made in the work of the joint working group of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. A major transport route connecting East Asia and South Asia will soon take shape.

International cooperation on production capacity and equipment manufacturing has become an important way to achieve win-win progress. Over the course of this year, we have signed agreements on enhancing production capacity cooperation with more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, promoting our common development. We have created a new model of production capacity cooperation with Kazakhstan under which a cooperation package containing 45 early harvest projects worth over 20 billion US dollars was agreed upon. We set up a US$30-billion fund for production capacity cooperation with Latin America and a US$20-billion bilateral production capacity cooperation fund with Brazil. The China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation with an initial contribution of US$10 billion was set up. We signed the MOU with the African Union on cooperation on road, railway and aviation networks and industrialization in Africa, and discussions regarding implementation are under way. China has carriedout production capacity cooperation of various forms, focusing on industrial parks in neighboring countries, cross-border economic cooperation zones and port industrial zones. China signed cooperation documents on exploring third country market with France and the ROK respectively, creating a new model of North-South and South-South cooperation.

Fourth, China's diplomatic theory has been further enriched. China's fast-paced diplomatic practices have created a new vision for China's diplomacy. At last year's Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, the building of a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation was set as the goal of China's diplomacy. This year, China put forward a new vision of building a community of shared future for mankind. In his important addresses made at the annual meeting of Boao Forum for Asia and the summits at the United Nations, President Xi Jinping elaborated on what this vision is about. The following is what President Xi envisions: Partnerships based on equality, consultation, mutual understanding and accommodation; a security architecture featuring fairness, justice, joint contribution and shared benefits; open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all, inter-civilization exchanges that promote harmony and inclusiveness and respect differences; and an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first. Together, these five elements constitute a broad vision for building a community of shared future for mankind.

Based on a keen appreciation of the underlying global trend, this vision focuses on the future progress of mankind. This concept and the call of building a new type of international relations draw on and enrich each other, and both are about cooperation and win-win progress. Both embody China's aspiration to make our world a better place and its tireless pursuit of this goal. The new type of international relations is about what kind of state-to-state relations China wishes to build, and the community of shared future is about what kind of world China hopes to create. The latter has profound political, economic, security, cultural and ecological dimensions. This new vision has received extensive recognition and endorsement by the international community, particularly the developing world. It has become a new hallmark of China's diplomacy on the international stage.

The year 2016 will be the first year for implementing China's 13th Five-Year Plan. It will also see accelerated adjustment and transformation of the international architecture from a new starting point. In conducting diplomacy, we will follow the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary, act in accordance with the vision of major-country diplomacy with distinctive Chinese features, and assume our due international responsibilities so as to foster a more favorable external environment for China's endeavor to finish building a society of initial prosperity in all respects and make more contribution to global peace and development.

We will redouble efforts to promote development at home. To get the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan off to a good start will be the central task for the whole Party and the nation next year. China's diplomacy will be conducted to help accomplish this task. We will give priority to pursuing the Belt and Road initiative, focus on connectivity and production capacity cooperation, and achieve synergy between the development strategies of China and other countries concerned. We will strengthen discussion and coordination with countries along the Belt and Road areas and make the Belt and Road initiative deliver more early outcomes. Flagship projects will be launched by the AIIB and the Silk Road Fund in production capacity cooperation. We will work to conclude new free trade agreements and upgrade the existing ones, and on the basis of achieving win-win outcomes, expand the international market and increase external driving force for promoting economic growth at home.

We will strive to lead global growth. China is the world's second largest economy and has made more contribution to global growth than any other country. The international community has high hopes on China and expects it to play a bigger role in the global economy. It hopes that China will work with other major economies to steer the world economy out of the doldrums. China will host the G20 summit in Hangzhou next autumn, which will be the first G20 summit hosted by China and another important global economic forum following last year's successful APEC meetings held in Beijing. At next year's G20 summit, leaders of major economies will meet by the side of the West Lake, and all eyes will be on China again. Guided by the principles of openness, transparency and inclusiveness, we will maintain consultation and coordination with other G20 member states to ensure a successful summit that will unlock fresh driving force for global growth, produce new solutions to global economic problems, chart a new pathway for improving economic and financial governance, and make new contribution to building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy.

We will endeavor to uphold world peace. In the face of an intricate and volatile international landscape, we will continue efforts to build a framework of major-country relations featuring positive interaction and win-win cooperation, and we will work with Russia, the United States, European countries and major emerging countries to tackle global challenges. We will continue to get actively involved in seeking political settlement of various hotspot issues in the Middle East, Africa and China's neighborhood area in a constructive and responsible manner, and we will fully honor our solemn pledges to UN peacekeeping missions. We will continue to take an active part in international counter-terrorism cooperation in our own way, firmly uphold the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and enhance dialogue and cooperation with other countries on fostering a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative international cyberspace.

We will actively contribute our share to the development of our region. We will work with other countries to build a community of shared future in Asia to maintain stability and promote economic development of the region. We are committed to upholding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, fully support the improvement of inter-Korean relations, and will work tirelessly to create conditions for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks. We will host commemorative events to mark the 25th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, implement the upgraded version of China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, take China-ASEAN friendship and cooperation to a new stage and ensure the success of the inaugural Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders' Meeting. We support India in hosting the BRICS Leaders' Meeting, and will work to create synergy between China's development strategy and those of South Asian countries. We will stay actively involved in Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction endeavor and support the resumption of the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan. We will take the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia as two platforms to deepen practical cooperation with the Central Asian countries and support them in pursuing enduring peace, stability, development and prosperity.

With regard to the South China Sea, an issue that has attracted much attention this year, we will, on the basis of respecting historical facts and acting in keeping with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international law as well as various agreements reached by China and ASEAN countries, continue to resolutely safeguard our lawful and legitimate territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. We are firmly opposed to the moves taken by a handful of countries and non-regional forces to exacerbate disputes and create tension. At the same time, we stand ready to take the dual-track approach widely accepted by countries in the region. Specifically, we will seek proper settlement of disputes and keep differences under effective control through dialogue and consultation with countries directly involved in accordance with the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. At the same time, we will work with ASEAN countries to maintain peace, stability and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.

We will endeavor to fulfill our responsibilities to the well-being of our people. To serve the people remains an abiding goal of China's diplomacy and to ensure that Chinese nationals are well treated and safe abroad is the bounden duty of China's diplomacy. In 2015, we have reached agreements with 16 countries including France and Argentina on facilitating personnel exchanges; and we have reached agreement with Canada on issuing visa valid for up to 10 years and with the European Union on the roadmap of negotiation on a personnel exchange agreement. We safely evacuated 613 Chinese nationals from Yemen after turbulence broke out in the country and brought back 5,685 Chinese from the airport in Nepal's capital after the country was hit by a massive earthquake. We have properly handled close to 60,000 consular protection cases involving the rights, interests and safety of Chinese nationals in various countries. Over 100,000 calls have been handled by the Foreign Ministry's Global Emergency Call Center for Consular Protection and Services through the 12308 hotline. We have successfully rescued close to 20 Chinese nationals taken hostage overseas. Still, we are saddened that Chinese nationals were killed in violent and terrorist attacks or as hostages. With the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan next year, China will open up at a faster pace. The number of Chinese nationals going abroad is expected to rise steadily, and China's overseas presence will also expand. With this in mind, we will, with a strong sense of responsibility to our people and our nation, work with all relevant government departments to intensify efforts to protect and assist Chinese nationals overseas and do all that is necessary to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals and businesses abroad as well as the safety of their lives and property.

All of you present here are leading Chinese scholars and researchers on international relations, and you have contributed your share to the successful conduct of China's diplomacy. Here, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, I express our most sincere appreciation to you. I am sure we can count on your continued interest in and support for China's diplomacy.