H.E. Mr Wu Bangguo
Chairman of the Standing Committee
of the National People's Congress
of the People's Republic of China

Your Excellency Mr Yoshio Utsumi,
Distinguished Guests,
Dear Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by extending, on behalf of the Chinese Government and in my own name, warm congratulations on the opening of the ITU Telecom World 2006 and expressing sincere welcome and best wishes to friends and exhibitors from different parts of the world.

I also wish to thank the ITU for choosing Hong Kong as the host city of the event, which gives China's information and communication technology (ICT) industry a rare opportunity to learn from their foreign peers.

With the largest gathering of exhibitors, this is the biggest telecom exhibition that features the latest products, services, technology and trends in the global ICT industry. During the exhibition, a forum will be held on the theme of " Living the Digital World " to enable participants to analyze . new developments, share experience and explore new ways and means to strengthen cooperation. This exhibition is of great importance in enhancing understanding, facilitating exchanges and cooperation, promoting common efforts to grow the ICT industry and bringing into full play the positive role of ICT in advancing social progress and human civilization.

In the world today, the fast advancing ICT is applied in more areas with greater sophistication. This brings unprecedented opportunities and challenges to all countries as well as telecom operators and equipment suppliers. To seize the opportunities and meet the challenges, countries are keen to adopt the latest ICT achievements and to speed up industrial restructuring and innovation so as to meet people's needs, spur socio economic development and gain a stronger position in the process of global informatization. That is why we see at this event state leaders , government officials , renowned entrepreneurs, business leaders of the ICT industry from many countries and experts and scholars.

The Chinese Government places great importance on the promotion of informatization. Embracing the global trend towards informatization, China's ICT industry has achieved leapfrog development in the course of reform and opening up. Once an old bottleneck industry, it has grown into a spearheading and pillar industry in the Chinese economy.

Firstly, China has become the largest and fastest growing telecom market in the world. It has put in place a nation wide basic information and communication network with worldwide connections, sophisticated technology and a complete range of services. It is the largest in both scale and number of subscribers and one of the fastest growing networks in the world. From 2000 to the end of October this year, the number of fixed line subscribers soared from 145 million to 371 million , registering an annual growth rate of 21 % . The number of mobile users skyrocketed from 85 million to 449 million, growing by 40% annually. Internet users increased by 32% on a yearly basis from 33.7 million to 131 million.

The number of telephone subscribers and Internet users in China now accounts for a quarter and one tenth of the world's total respectively.

Secondly, China's ICT industry has been growing rapidly. From 2000 to the end of 2005 , the sales revenue of the electronic information product manufacturers registered an annual growth rate of 31 % , increasing from RMB 607 billion yuan to RMB 3 . 8 trillion yuan, the third largest in the world. The outputs of some major products rank the first in the world. By the end of this year, the output of micro computers is projected to exceed 100 million, mobile phones 430 million, and program controlled switchboard nearly 80 million, all accounting for over one third of the world's total.

Thirdly, China's ICT has achieved leapfrog development. After over 20 years of development, China's ICT industry has leapfrogged two stages of technical development. The telephone exchange went past the crisscross network and adopted program control while the long distance transmission skipped the coaxial cable to use digital optical cable, reaching the world's advanced level in both areas. The development of digital technology and Internet technology in China has synchronized with the rest of the world.

Fourthly, China's R&D capacity has kept improving. Firmly committed to a path of open ended innovation and combining external cooperation with independent R&D, China has improved and upgraded the structure of its telecom equipment manufacturing industry. A number of Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE have become internationally recognized businesses. China is now a global leader in R&D in such important areas as 3 G mobile communications and Next Generation Networks ( NGN) .

China is the most populous developing country in the world. Its accelerated industrialization and urbanization, sustained fast economic growth, improved living standards, economic restructuring and industrial upgrading all place higher demand on the ICT industry. The Chinese Government will continue to vigorously promote the IT industry through the strategy of "IT led industrialization and industrialization¬ driven IT development". We will step up efforts to develop new telecom services, expand the market and promote coordinated development of telecom services between different regions and between urban and rural areas. We will boost the added value of telecom services and foster the telecom based IT services industry. We will enhance development and sharing of information resources and promote the wider use of IT. We will establish and improve at a faster pace a business led technology innovation system to enhance capacity for independent innovation and develop world class R&D centers and production bases for communications products. We will vigorously grow the core industries, such as integrated circuit and software, and develop the new generation mobile communications, NGN and digital television.

The scale of China's ICT industry is already quite impressive. However, China's ICT market remains the one with the biggest potential in the world. We will persist in the basic state policy of opening up and continue to enhance ICT cooperation with all other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We sincerely welcome investment from companies of all countries and regions in the world for joint exploration of China's market. We also welcome multi national companies to China for establishing R&D centers and working together with Chinese companies in the R&D of technologies and products. The Chinese Government will protect the legitimate rights and interests of all foreign investors, protect the intellectual property rights of all countries and the legitimate interests of their proprietors in accordance with law and resolutely combat IPR violation and piracy. At the same time, we encourage competitive and well established Chinese companies to " go global" and engage in international economic and technological cooperation to contribute to the global ICT development.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

Mr. Donald Tsang has just spoken on Hong Kong. I'd like to emphasize three points:

First, the achievements Hong Kong has made in the past nine years since its return to the motherland are obvious. With the full support of the Central Government and the mainland and thanks to the concerted efforts of the government and people of all sectors of the Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong has overcome the impact of the Asian financial crisis and SARS, maintained economic growth and social stability, raised living standards and boosted public confidence. Hong Kong retains its features as a free port and cosmopolitan city and keeps its position as an international financial, trading and shipping center. Hong Kong is recognized around the globe as one of the freest economies and most dynamic regions of the world. What has happened over the past nine years shows that the policy of "one country, two systems" works and is full of vitality and that the Hong Kong people are fully capable of administering Hong Kong well.

Second, to maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong remains the firm commitment of the Central Government. Here, I would like to reiterate that the Central Government will unswervingly implement the basic principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy, always act in strict accordance with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, firmly support the Government of the Hong Kong SAR in its administration according to law and vigorously promote exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong in economy, trade, science and education, culture, health and sports for common prosperity, stability and development.

Third, Hong Kong has unique advantages in developing ICT. Firstly, Hong Kong has excellent local telecom companies that are experienced in business development and management and enjoy high international reputation. Secondly, Hong Kong has a free and open economy, a sound legal system, broad connection with the international market and a strong team of business professionals with a good grasp of international rules. Thirdly, with its proximity to the mainland, Hong Kong enjoys close economic ties, strong complementarities and win win cooperation with the mainland, which provides a huge market and endless driving force for Hong Kong's growth.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

The rapid development of modern ICT has brought us much closer in both time and space. Mutual exchanges are now more convenient and mutual influence more direct. This has profoundly affected and changed the way people do business and live and it will continue to do so in the future. Let's join hands to seize the opportunities and meet the challenges. Let's work together to write a new and glorious chapter in ICT development for the benefit of people of all countries.

In closing, I wish the ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 every success!

Thank you!