拉脱维亚议会拉中友好小组主席谢尔盖·波塔普金斯在开幕式上致辞

Opening ceremony of the 2nd China-CEEC Young Political Leaders Forum
Remarks by Mr. Sergejs Potapkins

2015, Oct. 15

In the fourteenth century almost the only sources of knowledge about China for Europeans were Marco Polo's records. Today in small Latvia, where live only two million people, six hundred students annually learn Chinese.
Only one hundred years ago trip to Beijing for each of the delegates who arrived on a forum used to take some weeks, at best. Now it is some hours, in very comfortable conditions.
In the last two years more than two thousand Chinese people got temporary residence permit in Latvia. It is ten times more, than for all previous history.
I was born in the country which now doesn't exist. By the time of when I was 35 years old, four currencies changed in Latvia – beginning with the Soviet ruble, and finishing with Euro. During this time were established borders between the republics of the former Soviet Union, and disappeared borders between the countries of the European Union.
For the last thirty years, our life underwent such changes on which three generations of people used to be changed in the past.
In the middle of last century, The European Union was created based on the principles of the free movement of the capital and free movement of labor. A result became a creation of the united market with population of over 500 million people.
China and the countries of Southeast Asia has a half of all population of the globe. Our children won't know what bi polar World is.
Competitions, technological revolution, the Internet, speed of information distribution, change our environment very quickly. New technologies destroy old basis of the market. The children who were born in new century didn't hold a photo film in hand; they don't know what is a public telephone, or how telegram looks like. Development of the 3D printing and 3D technologies will change a form of modern production in a root. New power sources will change the image of our cities and a view of our life.
But still, as at the time of the Middle Ages, preserves the importance of routes for cargo delivery - New Silk Road. Despite traditional values of ways of delivery, the initiative of One Belt One Road will change the shape of the whole world.
And we are interested to develop this initiative according to the win-win policy.
New economic initiatives of China can be opposed to the new challenges of present day – growth of terrorism and extremism, the creation of ISIS, wars in the center of Europe. Initiatives of economic involvement can become the solution for a number of the conflicts, fight with poverty, and give stimulus for new development for whole Eurasian continent. And duty of Europe is to respond to these initiatives.
For Young Political Leaders there are several simple steps which we have to do, to make One Belt One Road became a reality:
-    Forget old geopolitical dogmas and fears and start to work all together
-    Forget about regional competition for Chinese favor – let’s build one big field of common interests.
-    Forget about protectionism. Think global. Open your markets for goods and the capital and enjoy new opportunities.
I believe, you can succeed in it. And therefore I wish us to get benefit from every minute of communication. This forum has to bring the results! I wish us a good work!