More than 100 officials and scholars from fourteen countries gathered in Beijing on Friday for a two-day symposium to discuss how to deal with global financial challenges.

The symposium, "Financial Security: China and the World," drew a number of Chinese and foreign dignitaries, including former European Commission President Romano Prodi and former EU commissioner Peter Mandelson.

General Ma Xiaotian, president of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, said the international community should pool its wisdom and work toward common development in the face of a complicated financial security situation.

Prodi told the forum that a well-regulated global financial system was needed to guarantee the future for all nations, and pointed to the lessons throughout history.

"As recent history has shown, turmoil in the financial world can cause prolonged, irreparable damage to the functioning of the real economy," Prodi said.

After the opening session, attendees discussed the causes, implications and major lessons of the latest international financial crisis, as well as the international community's actions to ensure financial security.

Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, the country's top legislature, met with Prodi, Mandelson and other attendees at the symposium.

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