编者按：5月23日上午，由海南省委宣传部、中国日报社、中国（海南）改革发展研究院、中国特色自由贸易港研究院共同主办的RCEP区域发展媒体智库论坛在海南海口召开，人大重阳受邀出席。澳大利亚前总理陆克文在会议开幕式上发表视频致辞。以下为发言全文：

视频时长约2分钟，以下为发言中英文全文：

中国日报的各位朋友，大家好！

我是陆克文，老陆。

首先感谢周总编和王文，邀请我来和大家说几句话。很遗憾，因为新冠还在，我还不能到海南来，和大家一起聚会。记得上次到海口的时候，还是2019年的5月份。当时沈晓明书记还是省长的时候，他和我介绍了海南自贸区的计划，也和我谈到他原来在浦东的经验。我相信这对海南未来的发展都是很重要的，也会很有帮助。实在来讲，我一直支持自由贸易。自由贸易对老百姓好、对经济发展好、对世界和平好。中国的经济发展，自由贸易起到了很大的作用。中国人民生活变好，自由贸易起到了很大的作用。亚洲的经济崛起和继续发展都需要自由贸易起到更大的作用。但是我们也看到，因为政治原因，贸易保护主义越来越伤害。实在来讲，自由贸易需要政治保护。国内政治保护、国际政治协调都很重要。所以今天我不要长篇大论，就是希望中国的朋友们继续坚持自由贸易、继续坚持改革开放、继续坚持多边主义。这样对中国好、对我们的地区好、也对全世界好。

谢谢大家。

陆克文在会议开幕式上发表视频致辞。（来源：中国日报）

以下为发言英文版

Dear China Daily Friends, greetings!

This is Kevin Rudd, or Lao Lu.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Zhou, editor-in-chief, and Mr. Wang Wen for inviting me to speak to you here. Unfortunately, as the COVID-19 situation still remains, I am not able to come to Hainan province in person and join you at this event. I remember my last visit to the city of Haikou was in May 2019, when Shen Xiaoming, now the Party Chief of Hainan, was the governor of the province. I remember that he introduced to me the plan about the Hainan free trade zone, as well as his earlier experiences in Pudong district in Shanghai. I believe all of these are important and also helpful to the future development of Hainan. Honestly speaking, I’ve always supported free trade. It is conducive to the people, to economic development, and to world peace. Free trade has played a significant role in China’s economic growth. It has also contributed greatly to the improvement of Chinese people’s lives. The economic rise and future growth of Asia will require free trade to play a bigger role. Yet we have also noticed that due to political reasons, trade protectionism is doing increasing harm. In essence, free trade needs protection from the political side. Both domestic political protection and international political coordination are crucial. So today, I’m not going to make a lengthy speech. Instead, I just wish that Chinese friends will continue to uphold free trade, and continue with reform and opening up, as well as multilateralism. This will be conducive to China, to the whole region, and to the entire world.

Thank you!

(欢迎关注人大重阳新浪微博：@人大重阳 ；微信公众号：rdcy2013)