On June 17, 2011, the opening ceremony of the 15th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. President Hu Jintao attended the opening ceremony and delivered an important speech. Hu pointed out China will continue to hold high the banner of peace, development and cooperation, unswervingly follow the open-up strategy featuring mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and welcome countries in the world to actively participate in China's development and share opportunities presented by China's development. China will work with other countries to create a splendid future for mutual benefit, win-win cooperation and common development.

The opening ceremony of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was held at Leningrad Exhibition Centre, St. Petersburg. At 11 a.m. local time, President Hu Jintao, accompanied by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was seated in the VIP area.

In the warm applause, President Hu delivered an important speech titled "Building a Beautiful Future of Mutual Benefit, Win-Win Cooperation and Common Development". Hu pointed out the world today is undergoing major development, major changes and major adjustments. The concept of peace, development and cooperation gets deeper into the hearts of the people. The trend of multi-polarization and economic globalization is moving deeper. The national economies are increasingly interdependent. Emerging markets and developing countries are experiencing rapid growth. The regional economic cooperation is growing. Scientific and technological innovations are breeding new breakthroughs. The international economic order is undergoing profound changes. There are still many uncertainties with respect to the recovery of world economy. The profound impacts of the international financial crisis have not been eliminated. The international and regional hotspot issues keep emerging. The uneven development between North and South becomes more prominent. The protectionism of various forms is resurging. Human survival and development is facing a series of new global challenges.

Hu said China is willing to participate actively in the discussions on major issues concerning global economic development and the resolution of these issues. China is willing to work with other countries to meet the challenge. He made the following observations.

First, countries need to strengthen global economic governance and continue to promote the reform of international financial system. The new global economic governance mechanism should reflect the changes in world economic landscape, observe the principle of mutual respect and collective decision-making, and especially increase the representation and say of emerging markets and developing countries in the mechanism. Countries should support and promote the Group of Twenty to play a greater role in global economic governance and promote the all-round recovery and growth of world economy. Countries should actively improve global economic governance and drive the international economic order towards a more just and reasonable direction.

Second, countries need to speed up transformation of economic development modes and rationally adjust the economic structure. Countries should gain a deep understanding of the development trends of the world and closely follow such trends. Countries should actively adapt to the changing international economic environment, transform economic development modes and adjust economic structure in a firm manner, and take effective measures to resolve various economic problems. Countries should promote transformation in the course of development and seek for development in the process of transformation.

Third, countries need to leverage the full potentials of scientific and technological achievements and speed up the integration of scientific and technological achievements with economic development. Countries should strengthen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. The world economic development should depend more on and should be more driven by scientific and technological innovation. Countries should find solutions to the problems and constraints hindering world economic development, actively push forward scientific and technological innovation, and enable scientific and technological achievements to benefit the people in a greater way.

Hu pointed out the outline of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" of China has laid down objectives and tasks for economic and social development of China in the coming 5 years from different aspects such as economic development, structural adjustment, education, resources and environment, people's lives, social building, reform and opening up. With scientific development as the main line, China will accelerate the transformation of economic development modes, focus more on the people dimension, and pay more attention to comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, to the reform and opening up and to protecting and improving people's livelihood. China aims at promoting the stable and relatively rapid economic development in the long run and ensuring social harmony and stability so as to lay a critical foundation for the building of a moderately prosperous society.

President Medvedev also delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He warmly welcomed President Hu and other Chinese leaders to attend the forum. He expounded Russia's development strategies and goals. He said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Russian Federation. The undertakings in Russia are being pushing forward steadily. Russia is committed to advancing the modernization process, improving people's living standards and quality, and participating in international affairs in an active and effective manner. He stressed China is a major force safeguarding world peace and stability and the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and China is very strong.

Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Chair of the Organizing Committee of the Forum, delivered a welcome speech.

Ling Jihua, Wang Huning, Dai Bingguo and other Chinese leaders also participated in the activities.

St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was founded in 1997. The forum this year focused their discussions on the role of emerging economies in global economic growth and major issues facing Russia and the world. There were more than 4,000 participants from government, business, academia, civil society and media.