On April 23, 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered an important speech Promoting Peace in the Middle East and Building a Harmonious World at the Consultative Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He stressed that we should learn experiences and lessons and obtain wisdom and strength from history and comply with the trend of the times and the aspiration of the people to properly cope with various conflicts and challenges, build peace for the world, create prosperity for all countries and push for the progress of the human society.

Hu delivered the speech at the Consultative Council building with strong Arab feature. In the brilliantly illuminated conference hall, all the members of the Council seated fairly early and waited for the speech of President Hu Jintao.

At about 10:45 a.m. local time, accompanied by the Chairman of the Consultative Council, Hu stepped into the conference hall. All the audience stood up and applauded warmly.

As host of the speech, Chairman of the Consultative Council made a speech extending welcome and gratitude to Hu for delivering the speech at the Consultative Council. He noted that the good relations between Saudi Arabia and China can be regarded as a typical example of country-to-country relationship. Since 1990 when the two countries established diplomatic ties, the bilateral friendly cooperation in various fields has been expanding. The two countries hold identical or similar opinions on many international and regional issues. Saudi Arabia appreciates the important role of China in maintaining regional peace and security. The visit of Hu once again proves the close relations between the two countries. He expressed confidence that Saudi Arabia-China relations will enjoy a better future.

Amidst warm applause, Hu delivered the important speech. He first of all pointed out that today the world is experiencing unprecedented historic changes. World multi-polarization and economic globalization are developing in depth and science and technology are advancing with each passing day. The lofty cause of peace and development of mankind enjoys a promising prospect. Meanwhile, the traditional and non-traditional factors threatening peace are interwoven, the world economic development is uneven and the North-South gap continues widening. Mankind faces various conflicts and challenges which require to be addressed carefully. Faced with the complex world, we should pay greater attention to, stress and promote harmony. Building a harmonious world with a lasting peace and collective prosperity is a shared aspiration of all peoples around the world and a necessary requirement of the development of the human society. Building a harmonious world requires the concerted efforts of the entire international community. He said,

"In order to build a harmonious world, all countries must be committed to coexisting peacefully. All countries should abide by the widely recognized international law and basic norms of international relations, the principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, respect and preserve each country's right to independently choosing its social system and path of development; multilateralism should be upheld to promote the democratization of international relations and safeguard all countries' right to equally participating in international affairs; efforts to peacefully settle disputes and conflicts by dialogue, consultations and negotiations should be encouraged and supported and willful use or threatened use of military force be opposed; cooperation on an equal basis should be reinforced to cope with the global challenges.

In order to build a harmonious world, we must be committed to realizing the harmonious development of the global economy. All countries should attach importance to and take effective measures to push forward the economic globalization in a balance, reciprocal and win-win direction and make efforts to alleviate imbalance in development and eradicate poverty; regional and international economic cooperation should be promoted actively to jointly solve problems arising from global economic development and safeguard economic security; all countries should go for mutual openness instead of blockade and endeavor to set up a open, fair and regulated multilateral trading system so as to realize mutual benefit and win-win results for all.

In order to build a harmonious world, we must be committed to achieving the harmonious progress of different civilizations. All countries should endeavor to preserve the diversity of the world and various development models, adhere to dialogue and exchange of views on an equal footing, uphold the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, allow civilizations to complement one another through competition and develop together by seeking common ground while shelving differences; all countries should acknowledge the differences in cultural traditions, social systems, values and courses of development of other countries. Such differences should in no way be used as a pretext to point a finger at other countries' internal affairs, nor should any civilization, nationality or religion be blamed for the world's existing disputes and conflicts; all the civilizations and nationalities in the world should join hands to push forward the lofty cause of peace and development of mankind."

Hu stressed that the Middle East is a region of great influence on the world. Without stability and development of the Middle East peace and prosperity of the world will be impossible. A harmonious Middle East is in the long-term interest of people in the region and the whole world at large as well as the common wish of the entire world. To build a harmonious Middle East, long-term hard work is required in the following areas. First, all parties should strive to realize regional peace and stability. In front of complex conflicts and disputes, dialogue and consultations on an equal footing should be strengthened and conflicts and differences be addressed fairly and reasonably through political means; second, mutual respect should be upheld. The spirit of mildness and inclusiveness should be followed in handling differences among various civilizations in the region. Differences should not become the root causes of conflicts and disputes but the driving force for learning from each other and integration in the region; third, cooperation in development should be encouraged. Development should be realized through mutually beneficial cooperation against the background of globalization. Wide regional and global economic cooperation will promote prosperity of all countries, enhance understanding and friendship among peoples, and be conducive to the lasting peace of the region and the world at large

Hu said that the great Chinese and Arab peoples, both peace-loving peoples, have carried out various kinds of friendly exchanges throughout history and established a profound friendship by supporting each other in their efforts of fighting for and maintaining national independence and improving their national economy and people's livelihood. The friendship and cooperation between the Chinese and Arab peoples have not only benefited the common development of both sides but also contributed greatly to the advancement of human society. Under the current situation, China is willing to work with all Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to promote peace and stability in the Middle East and build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. After Hu finished the speech, all the audience stood up once again and applauded warmly for a long period of time for the excellent speech of Hu.

State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and other accompanying officials were present during the speech.

Established in 1993, the Consultative Council of Saudi Arabia is a national political consultative organization of Saudi Arabia and composed of Chairman and 150 members. Under the Council there are 12 special committees.