On July 8, 2009, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, who is attending the outreach session of the G-8 Summit on behalf of President Hu Jintao, attended the group meeting of leaders of the outreach five developing countries (O-5), together with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South African President Jacob Zuma and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in L'Aquila, Italy. Dai exchanged views with leaders present at the meeting on ways to address the international financial crisis, enhance global economic governance and cope with challenges presented by climate change and non-traditional security threats.

Dai pointed out in his speech that the current international financial crisis is still sprawling and deepening, inflicting a heavy toll on the economic development and people's livelihood of countries around the world. Due to the weak economic basis and self-repair capacity, developing countries are worst hit by the crisis. If the trend is not curbed and turned around timely, not only will the United Nations Millennium Development Goals not be realized as scheduled, but the development achievements made over the years will also be nullified.

Dai noted economic development is the basis and precondition for solving the various problems. All the five nations are leading developing countries, and therefore should show solidarity and join forces with each other in promoting the international community to pay more attention to the development of developing countries, increase input and assistance for developing countries, and minimize the damage inflicted by the international financial crisis on developing countries, especially those least developed ones. To that end, the Chinese side upholds that the five nations need to make concerted efforts on the following aspects:

- Promote the international community to respect the right of developing countries to independent economic development, take into full account the specific national conditions of developing countries, and ensure that developing countries enjoy necessary room for development policies.

- Push forward the reform of the international economic, financial and trade systems, and raise the representation, voice and decision-making power of developing countries in international agencies.

- Promote developed countries to translate their commitments into actions in assistance increase, debt relief, market access, technology transfer, etc., and implement the consensuses reached at the United Nations High-Level Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.

- Promote the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and regional development banks to make innovations in assistance measures, help developing countries maintain financial stability and boost economic growth, and reinforce developing countries' capacity to withstand crisis and repair their economies.

Dai said O-5 leaders have held 5 group meetings. Over the last 5 years, O-5's cooperation fields have been expanding. The cooperation is conducted at multiple levels, and the cooperation mechanism is becoming more substantive and yielding increasingly fruitful results, thanks to the concerted efforts to push forward the cooperation. Taking stock of the process, the following points have been very important:

First, mutual understanding and sharing weal and woe. Developing countries know best each other's difficulties in and aspirations for development, and have similar experiences and situations, which has resulted in the five countries having same or similar views on many important issues, laying the foundation for enhanced cooperation.

Second, cooperation and solidarity. Our common goal is to promote South-South Cooperation, North-South Dialogue, and multilateralism. Collaboration and coordination should therefore be strengthened to safeguard our common interests.

Third, learning from each other for common development. All of the O-5 countries are making explorations for a development path that suits our respective national conditions, and have accumulated a lot of experience, which means we can enhance exchanges and learn from each other. We have our respective strengths in natural resources, market, technology, human resources, etc.. Therefore, we can share complementarity, expand and deepen cooperation in all areas, and bring about a mutually beneficial and win-win result.

Fourth, mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences. We are familiar with each other's national conditions and respect each other's choice. Therefore, we should exchange views candidly on issues of a global scale and try to seek a common stance while understanding that we also have our differences, so that we can avoid a Procrustean bed.

Dai pointed out that the current international situation is complicated and volatile. In this context, the solidarity and cooperation of O-5 is even more important. We should view the O-5 cooperation from a strategic and overall perspective, stick to practicality, be more innovative, and improve the cooperation mechanism, in an effort to render the development of the O-5 cooperation better and more rapid. In view of the current situation, O-5 countries can focus on the following fields for enhanced cooperation:

First, join hands to address the impact of the international financial crisis together. We should jointly promote the materialization of the achievements made at the G-20 Washington Summit and London Summit. In particular, we should effectively coordinate with each other on macro-economic policies, urge the international community to honor the commitments to development assistance, trade financing, preferential loans, etc. at the earliest possible date, promote enhanced international financial regulation and the reform of the international economic and financial systems, push forward the Doha Round negotiations so that progress can be made as early as possible, oppose trade protectionism in all forms, and boost the recovery of the world economy.

Second, jointly promote enhanced global economic governance. The global financial crisis highlighted deep-rooted medium- and long-term problems in global economic governance. We should ensure the international community learn the lessons, foster an effective mechanism for global economic governance, work together to solve the global issues arising from the process of economic globalization by having all the parties participate on an equal footing and cooperate with each other, and promote economic globalization to develop towards a more balanced, generally preferential and win-win direction.

Third, actively cope with the challenges presented by climate change. We should affirm the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol as the major tools, adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, call on countries around the world to take active actions in accordance with the Bali Roadmap, and urge developed countries to make an explicit commitment to continuing taking the lead in emissions reductions and providing developing countries with measurable, reportable and verifiable support in technology, funding and capacity building. It is of necessity that we make joint efforts to ensure the success of the Copenhagen Conference.

Fourth, cooperate with each other to address non-traditional security threats. In recent years, food security, energy security, public health security, natural disasters and other global problems are becoming increasingly serious. O-5 should enhance exchanges and deepen cooperation to jointly reinforce the capacity to prevent the problems, guard against the risks and provide rescue relief. The Chinese side would like to make a special proposal that O-5 strengthen cooperation in the prevention and control of epidemics, including information exchange, early warning, crisis management, anti-epidemic mutual assistance, etc. to better guarantee the life and health of the public.

Dai concluded by saying that the O-5 cooperation is already standing at a new historical starting point. Let us build on the past and forge ahead into the future. And let us work together with one heart to jointly promote the building of a harmonious world featured by lasting peace and common prosperity.

Mexican President Calderon said leading emerging countries can also play an important role in addressing global issues, and consensus should be pooled to enable developing and poor countries to effectively address such issues as climate change and food security.

Brazilian President Lula pointed out that as an important platform for tackling economic and financial problems, the role of the O-5 leaders' group meeting should be brought into full play to promote the international community to tackle the financial crisis through cooperation. International financial regulation should be enhanced, and trade protectionism be opposed to, so that the world economy can emerge from the crisis as soon as possible.

Indian Prime Minister Singh noted the deteriorating world economic situation has made poverty more serious. The world economic recovery should be based on a comprehensive development strategy, and the consensuses reached at the G-20 London Summit be effectively implemented. The financial crisis is closely linked to food crisis and energy crisis. The challenges confronting us are of a global scale, which must be addressed through the cooperation of the international community.

South African President Zuma said the international economic and financial crisis has been going deeper, exerting huge negative impact on low-income countries. Africa is a region worst hit by the international financial crisis. The spreading of the crisis has affected the achievements made by Africa in economic and social development and the efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, global measures should be taken to address the international financial crisis, trade protectionism must be opposed to, the Doha Round negotiations should be completed at the earliest possible date, and support for countries worst hit by the crisis, especially developing ones, should be enhanced.

Dai and leaders of the other 4 countries jointly met journalists after the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Mexican President Calderon.