Good morning ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the UITP, International Association of Public Transport, I would like to thank China Planning Network to invite us to the CPN 1st China Urban Transportation Congress. It's my great honor to speak here and I'm also very pleased to be in Beijing.

2 years ago, the UITP Asian Pacific Assembly was held here, hosted by our Beijing members: Beijing Municipal Community of Communication and Beijing Public Transport Co., Ltd. We learnt a lot of the vision and the development of public transport in Beijing as well as the whole China. Our members from the other parts of the world were very impressed by the efforts made by the Chinese colleges and rapid development here in China.

We all know that China is experiencing the rapid growing of economy, the GDP grows 11.5% in the first half year of 2007. Not many countries in the world have experienced the kind of growth. Accompanied by the economic growth, there is also remarkable urbanization. 18 millions citizens are moving from country to city every year. The high rate of urbanization and economic development on one hand bring better life for citizens, but on the other hand put forward many issues such as traffic congestion and adverse effects to the environment. It is happening all over the world, but what brings China to be unique is the scale. Challenges bring opportunities. Cities can only be very sustainable if they benefit from efficient public transport systems, at the same time, public transport system can only be efficient if they are fully integrated with the urban policies. In this respect, the report of priority development of urban public transport of the Ministry of Construction of China is moving from vision to action.

We have seen new BRT lines, metro networks, exclusive bus lanes, new interchanges and new financing matters here. This year, our members in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen are working whole-heartedly to provide better mobility for the cities. We see China is developing many innovative and original solutions for the challenges. UITP supports public transport by identifying and exploring paths for the future of public transport, and by opening them on international platform for exchanges. And international community of public transport in UITP is ready to share and collaborate with our Chinese colleges, and to face the challenges ahead.

Last but not least, we are looking forward to the Beijing Olympic Games that would have one year from now. The public transport is to play a very important role in the event. UITP will be eager to learn the experience from Beijing and to share it with the world.

Ladies and gentleman, I wish you all a fruitful Congress and I take this opportunity to wish the Beijing Olympic Games a great success.

Thank you very much!