On March 25th, 2004, the International Seminar on UN Millennium Development Goals co-sponsored by the Chinese government and the UN agencies in China was opened in Beijing. State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan attended and addressed the seminar.

Tang Jiaxuan pointed out the concept of UN Millennium Development Goals has gone deep in the hearts of people in the past few years. To materialize the goals, the United Nations should undertake greater responsibility and the governments of states should actively promote comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable socio-economic development. At the same time, comprehensive partnerships should be built in an all-round manner across the world in a bid to mobilize people from all walks of life to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals. Tang Jiaxuan stressed China always regarded development as its first and foremost task and was implementing in earnest the notion of comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, which would definitely accelerate China's realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

On the same day, Tang Jiaxuan met with Rubens Ricupero, Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and other senior officials from UN agencies and relevant countries. Tang Jiaxuan emphasized that people's livelihood should always be given top priority regardless of any change in the world. China expected the United Nations to play a bigger role in helping the states realize development and promote international cooperation. Rubens Ricupero thought highly of the achievements China has made in promoting comprehensive and coordinated socio-economic development and believed that China was an excellent example in implementing Millennium Development Goals.