I think the preparation for the Beijing Games is moving forward smoothly. I believe that Beijing will present a wonderful Olympic Games to the world, and many records will be broken.

We have shared our experience with China regarding security during the Games. One of the successful keys to the Barcelona Games was that we had an advance plan for those new venues. For example, the future use of the Olympic Square after the Games had been taken into account before the construction. It was another way to capitalize our investment. Barcelona also took advantage of the Games to improve its urban planning. New hotels and renovated streets made living in the city more convenient.

I think Chinese people and Chinese government have noticed such questions and therefore I believe the Beijing Games will be a perfect and successful sports event. In addition, I hope the Chinese government will attach more stress to foreign publicity and adopt a more relaxed policy on foreign and domestic media. In this way, more reports on modern China will be available for foreigners. As opposed to those living in China, most foreigners rely on media to get to know modern China.

(China.org.cn April 20, 2007)