Dear President Vladimir Putin,

Dear colleagues,

I am very glad to come to St. Petersburg, the home city of President Putin, and to have the opportunity to discuss major global issues with you. In recent years, the G8 has stepped up dialogue with developing countries. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to the Russian Federation for helping make this dialogue possible.

In the world today, peace, development and cooperation are the calling of the times. Economic globalization has deepened. Science and technology are making rapid advances. The flow of factors of production and industrial relocation are gaining speed. The performance of major economies continues to improve, and the world economy on the whole is growing steadily.

At the same time, however, the problems and challenges confronting human development have increased. New hot-spots, serious imbalances in economic development, growing gap between the North and the South, prolonged increase in oil prices, trade protectionism in new forms, increasingly acute global challenges of terrorism, environmental pollution, natural calamities and communicable diseases'-all these pose real threats to world peace and development. It must be pointed out that many developing countries, particularly the African countries, remain in a disadvantaged position and face a host of difficulties in their development efforts. All these are major issues that the international community must confront and resolve.

Facing both opportunities and challenges, we urgently need to strengthen coordination and cooperation and make concerted efforts to build a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.

The agenda items of this meeting, namely global energy security, prevention and control of communicable diseases, education and African development, address both current and future needs. The proper handling of these issues concerns the interests of all countries and peoples and the future of human society.

Dear colleagues,

Global energy security is crucial to ensuring the economic growth and people's livelihood of all countries and to maintaining peace and stability and promoting common development. The accelerated economic globalization has intensified interactions and links among various countries and regions. Every country has the right to fully develop energy resources to promote its development. But few countries can achieve energy security without joining in international cooperation. Persistent high prices in the international energy market have adversely impacted global economic growth. This hurts the interests of both oil producers and consumers. The causes of high oil prices are complex, and the international community needs to