Green development boosts consensus in Asian region

China has called for strengthening party-to-party cooperation in green development based on Asia's specific conditions to secure the continent's development and global ecological security.

Due to a serious shortage of resources and energy, Asian countries are experiencing the "limit of growth" during rapid industrialization, Vice-President Li Yuanchao said on Thursday.

Vice-President Li Yuanchao (second from right) and President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa (center) join delegates before the opening ceremony of the 2013 International Conference of Asian Political Parties Special Conference, in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, on Thursday. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

"Promoting green development is the important consensus of Asian political parties and it provides brand new space for party-to-party cooperation," he said.

Li made the remarks in a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the 2013 International Conference of Asian Political Parties Special Conference, held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Thursday and Friday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing the conference in a video message, said the theme "Promoting Green Development and Beautiful Asia Together" is particularly relevant in this time of test and transition, and is "especially suited to the Asia-Pacific region".

"Green development is crucial to reducing poverty, reinforcing economic dynamism and coping with the rapid urbanization and industrialization. By shifting the region and our world to a more inclusive and sustainable path of development, we can reduce the risks of climate change and help ensure the future we want," Ban said.

Asia has become an engine driving the world economic recovery in recent years by contributing more than 50 percent of world growth. But the United Nations has warned that Asia's environmental problems may threaten its growth, food security, regional stability and "the world's common future".

‘New concepts'

Li urged "new concepts, ideas and measures" to realize modernization of the largest continent, regarding both area and population, since "it is unsustainable and impossible to copy the consumption pattern of Western development".

"We should abandon our dependence on the path of development featured by high pollution, high consumption and high emissions, and accelerate our shift to green development with its priorities on ecological progress, environmental protection and conservation," Li said.

In November, the keynote report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China highly emphasized the importance of ecological progress and, for the first time, included the building of a "beautiful" China in the nation's overall development plan.

Jose de Venecia Jr., founding chairman and co-chairman of Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, spoke highly of the Chinese government's engagement in environmental protection, citing the massive tree planting across the country since 1949 and measures to prevent desertification in Northwest China.

He said the conference will encourage Asian governments and political parties to govern "green", but international efforts to reduce emissions have been frustrated by some powers that are concerned about slowed growth.

"We must take a serious, long-term commitment," he said. "We must fight the scourge of climate change with the moral equivalent of war."

Sok An, Cambodian deputy prime minister, specifically urged improving international cooperation on green growth in developing countries by fostering green finance and investment, promoting green technology innovation and facilitating trade in green goods and services.

"It is time for us to strategically face up to the various challenges and to seize the opportunities for starting to deliver benefits from growth on a larger scale," he said.

About 150 guests from more than 33 Asian countries attended the conference. Delegates from Latin America and Africa also attended as observers.

The International Conference of Asian Political Parties is a forum of parties from Asia-Oceania countries, initiated in 2000, in which participants share their experiences and explore ways to expand cooperation in Asia. China held special conferences on poverty relief and sharing development in 2010 and 2011.