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HONG KONG: Former US president Bill Clinton kicked off his first charitable conference abroad in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
More than 400 of Asia's elite attended the event, including Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew who engaged in a dialogue at the conference on the challenges facing Asia.
The two-day Clinton Global Initiative meeting focused on pressing issues facing Asia today – education, energy, climate change and public health – and the need to come up with an action plan to meet these challenges.
Mr Clinton said: "More than two-thirds of the world's poor people live in Asia, even as the most burgeoning economies are (located) here. In some regions, half of the people still lack access to adequate sanitation."
Foremost on the minds of participants is how long the global financial crisis will last. Mr Lee expressed confidence that the US Treasury would be able to revive the economy.
"The unorthodox must be considered and I'm quite sure that the team-in-charge is quite capable of thinking up all the sums and all the equations. What they do in the next three to six months will decide whether it's going to be long and deep or medium and shallow. I do not believe it's going to be a short V-shaped recovery, it's not possible," the minister mentor said.
Other issues discussed included weaning Asia off fossil fuel and energy & water conservation.
This first charitable conference overseas will also be Mr Clinton's last. He has agreed to stop holding these meetings abroad and has refused donations from foreign governments, following his wife's appointment as US secretary of state for Barack Obama's administration next year.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said he is looking forward to better ties with the US, with Senator Hillary Clinton as the country's top envoy.
"I am looking forward to a very good working relationship with now Senator Clinton but Secretary Clinton later on, and to further our friendship," he said.
China also urged rich countries to lead the fight against climate change and to provide expertise to the developing world in a bid to reduce emissions.
- CNA/so
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