DUSHANBE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged Asian countries and their partners to join hands in opening up new prospects for Asian security and development under new circumstances.
Addressing the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Tajikistan, Xi called on CICA members to uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and explore a regional security structure with Asian features to realize collective security for Asia.
Calling Asia one of the most dynamic and most promising regions in the world, Xi said Asian countries also face common challenges including insufficient political mutual trust, imbalanced economic development, and outstanding security and governance issues, and thus there is a long way to go to realize long-lasting peace and shared prosperity.
Hailing the progress made by Asian countries in building an Asian community with a shared future in the past few years, Xi encouraged CICA members to hold on to their goals, jointly seize opportunities and address challenges, and make concerted efforts in opening up new prospects for Asian security and development under the new circumstances.
Building a prosperous Asia is a shared aspiration of Asian countries, and development is the key to all problems, Xi said, adding that CICA members should work together to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and ink regional integration documents such as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership at an early date.
Building an open and inclusive Asia is a common pursuit of Asian countries, said Xi. He urged CICA members to well implement the consensus reached at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations held in May in Beijing, and develop a vision of civilizations based on equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness.
Speaking of China's role, Xi pledged to steadfastly pursue a peaceful development path and share development opportunities with all parties, especially through Belt and Road cooperation and more conveniences in market access.
He also called for equal dialogue based on mutual respect and adherence to multilateral trade rules in addressing economic and trade problems, stressing that relevant sides should never readily resort to protectionism and unilateralism.
Xi arrived here Friday for the CICA summit and a state visit to Tajikistan.
Tajikistan is the second leg of Xi's two-country Central Asia trip, which also took him to Kyrgyzstan for a state visit and the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
