August 8, Beijing. His Majesty King Albert II of the Belgians has decreed to award the Insignia of Officer in the Order of Leopold to Mr. Long Yongtu, former Chief Negotiator for China's WTO accession and Secretary General of Boao Forum for Asia, for his outstanding contributions to China's accession to the WTO, the facilitation of regional cooperation in Asia and the promotion of Sino-European and Sino-Belgian economical and trade relations. The ceremony was held at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Beijing on August 8th.

In 1992, Mr. Long Yongtu, then working for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation(MOFTEC), participated in negotiations for China's resumption of its status in the GATT. He was appointed Chief Trade Representative of the MOFTEC on February 1997, responsible for trade negotiations and multilateral economic and legal affairs. He had been the Chief Negotiator for China's WTO accession till China successfully joined the WTO in November 2001. Mr. Long has been widely respected during his ten-year trade negotiations for his confidence, determination, flexibility, calmness and wisdom.

At today's ceremony, H.E. Mr. Gsaton Van Duyse-Adam, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to China, awarded the Insignia of Officer in the Order of Leopold to Mr. Long Yongtu on behalf of His Majesty King Albert II. Leopold of Saxe Coburg was the first King of Belgium. The Order of Leopold is the most prestigious national order in Belgium, awarded to those with outstanding contributions according to the decree of the King.

In his remarks, Ambassador Van Duyse-Adam stressed that by awarding the Insignia to Secretary General Long,"His Majesty wishes to pay tribute to your great country and to Mr Long Yongtu who has contributed greatly to the enormous changes of your country" and that"the honor received by Mr Long Yongtu is intended to recognize your talent and wisdom and to pay tribute to Asia as a whole. Your efforts in finding a balancing point in Asia will have a far-reaching impact on the future of Asia and the future of China in particular."

In reply, Secretary General Long expressed his gratefulness to His Majesty, the Government of Belgium and the Belgian people for awarding such a great honor to him. He said:"I have been convinced of one important principle during my 30-odd years of engagement in foreign affairs and that is Win-Win." He believed that"in a globalized era, China is faced with major challenges as well as opportunities.""History proves that only by following the principle of Win-Win can we have such a rare but indispensable international environment."

Senior government officials including Mr Dai Bingguo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Central Committee of the CPC and Vice Foreign Minister, Mr Li Yong, Vice Minister of Finance, Mr Li Dongsheng, Deputy Administrator of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and Mr Yi Xiaozhun, Assistant Minister of Commerce, corporate leaders including Mr Wong Kwongyu, President of Beijing Eagle Investment Co. Ltd, Mr SANG-KOOK KIM, General Manager of SK Telecom China, Chairman, Mr Eric BADEN, Chairman of Degussa(China) Co., Ltd and Mr Liu Guolai, Vice President of Ericsson(China) Company Ltd, Mr Long Yongtu's former colleagues including former MOFTEC vice ministers Wei Yuming, Tong Zhiguang and Gu Yongjiang and Mr Li Daoyu, former Chinese Ambassador to the USA, ambassadors and senior diplomats of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, India, Iran, ROK, Kyrgyz, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Israel as well as other more than 100 distinguished guests from China and Belgium attended today's ceremony.