The 37th International General Meeting of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) opened here Sunday.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi attended the opening ceremony and made a keynote speech.

Wu praised the role that PBEC has played in pushing free trade and international and regional economic cooperation as a regional non-governmental economic organization.

China has been actively participating in economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and hopes to build cooperative relations with Asia-Pacific countries and regions featuring mutual benefit, complementariness and mutual assistance.

To this end, Wu made three suggestions.

First, all economies should enhance mutual trust and create a political environment of peaceful coexistence.

Second, they should strengthen economic and scientific cooperation to push the process of regional economic integration and discuss different forms of free trade arrangement.

Third, they should strive to build a stable and secure regional environment and maintain regional peace and stability.

She said she hopes the business circles make a full use of PBEC to strengthen exchanges and understanding and seek more business opportunities.

Before the opening ceremony, Wu met with some of the participants.

The theme of the meeting is "Promoting changes: a new role for business in the Asia-Pacific." Participants will discuss topics such as "rescuing the WTO", "creating stable financial systems" and "fostering private sector development."

Topics involving China include "profiting from China's growth: outbound investment and tourism", "China and India: competition and cooperation" and "Manufacturing in China: a view from the inside."

The PBEC, with its Secretariat in Hong Kong, is an international private-sector organization. China joined the PBEC in 1994.

Its objectives are to strengthen the business enterprise system,to create new business relationships and to increase trade and investment through free markets and open investment policies. The PBEC committees maintain close links with other business leaders, and with international institutions.

Source: Xinhua