• ROLE IN THE UNITED NATIONS
• UN SPECIAL CONSULTATIVE STATUS INITIATIVE

Closing Speech at the Third International Symposium on Global Ethics
Zhuo Xinping (Director of IWR,CASS)

Distinguished Guests and Dear Friends:

We have had a successful international symposium on global ethics again. Here we have enjoyed so many excellent presentations dealing with various problems and concerns about global co-existence and sustainable development of humankind. We have had also wonderful discussions to promote mutual understanding and to find possible ways for the realization of global ethics and other noble values. By this symposium we have received many papers with high academic quality, and have felt especially the great enthusiasm of active participation.

During our symposium some friends asked me, what is the purpose of our gathering here in Beijing? What kind of contribution could we make? What is our hope for the future? These three “whats” remind me of three questions by German philosopher Immanuel Kant: What could we know (from his “pure reason”)? What should we do (from his “practical reason”, namely “moral reason”)? What might we hope (from his aesthetic concern about future)? In this connection, I gave certain answers and explained the reason. We know that we are all living in a global village, we share the same responsibility and have the same destiny in this “one world”. Our hope is peaceful co-existence and ideal development of human society. Between the reality of our contemporary world and our hope for the future, the only bridge is the proper action by us all. That means how we should act in order to realize the best possible development of humankind. So, we are all workers for the construction of such a bridge. Here we have certainly got some exact answers for our gathering in Beijing. We can see it clearly in our “Beijing Declaration”. Of course, the concern about global ethics is reflected not only by our theoretical discussion, but also by our willingness and enthusiasm of this participation as our practical action. Our cross-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding can make concrete contribution to global ethics, such as the wisdom for conflict-resolution, peace-education, social justice, discovery of spiritual heritages in religions, and harmonious development of human society. By our common action, we can also get help and encouragement from each other.

I like the song by our youth ambassadors very much and get further ideas and inspirations from it: If we produce more leaves, our tree will welcome the everlasting spring. If we have more drops and waves, our ocean and sea will show the strong strength for world peace and global ethics. If we bring about more flowers, our garden will become the paradise on earth. We know that we have still a long way to go, and we must make continuous efforts. But we are sure that the process for that itself is already useful and significant. By the series of our symposium, you come to us from various places of the world, and we come to you from different areas of China. We are all in the same journey: journey for world peace, for social harmony and for a better future of our global village or human family. By this journey we experienced hardships and enjoyed happiness as well. We have pioneers and followers. We have successors from one generation to another.

For this common cause we have been playing various and necessary roles. For example, by our symposium we come together from different nations, different regions, different faiths and different religions. We are here as speakers or interpreters, as professors or students, as organizers or administrators, as volunteers or reporters. But with this variety we have formed the unity of true, good and beauty. Here we have created an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust. We have reached consensus and agreement. We have promoted our co-operation and friendship. And we have guaranteed the success of our conference. With this success, we are greatly encouraged and of course optimistic to the future.

The Institute of World Religions is very grateful to the PRIDE and to all of you. We’ll continue this journey and have closer co-operation with you. Our journey will not only be beneficial to the others, but also bring our own transcendence and sublimation in the spiritual cultivation. So, our journey is a pilgrimage to the holiness. Let’s go together more confidently in the future. Thank you very much.