Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers keynote speech at the opening of B20, which is an integral part of the G20 Hangzhou Summit. B20 provides a significant platform for the international business community to participate in global economic governance and international economic and trade regulation. Photo: AP

 

The 2016 B20 Summit was kicked off Saturday afternoon in Hangzhou with the keynote speech delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to Xi, the world economy is recovering as deep-seated adjustments are being made. Xi also noted the high expectations that the international community have toward the Hangzhou summit and reiterated his proposal at last year’s Antalya summit to “write out the right prescription” for the world economy to make it strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive. 

 

The first proposal is to build an innovative economy to impel growth. Xi called for all countries to collectively push forward the new scientific, technological and industrial revolution featured by Internet technology. Xi added that while expanding the positive role of new technologies, efforts should also be made to lower its negative effects down to the minimum. 

 

China has made innovation-driven growth one of the main items of the G20 agenda, and pushed for preparing a blueprint for innovation-driven growth. This will enable G20 members to come together for the first time to share a common vision of opening a new path for global growth with concrete actions. China will reform its macroeconomic policies and effectively combine its fiscal and monetary policies with structural reforms. 

 

The second proposal is to construct an open economy to expand the development space. The history of world economy has proved that opening brings about progress while barriers lead to backwardness. If neighboring countries could not bring down barriers, they may not only suffer from economic decline but also face a “double-lose” dilemma. 

 

China has reiterated its commitment to oppose trade protectionism and hopes to reignite the engine of trade and investment to create bigger markets and more growth space for all countries. 

 

The third prescription is to build an interactive world economy to forge a cohesive force. Coordination and cooperation is a necessity for all countries considering that their destinies are bound together and their development issues are interconnected.  

 

China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative and pushed the creation of multilateral development banks to provide infrastructure project financing. 

 

The fourth is to build an inclusive world economy to solidify the basis for win-win cooperation. According to statistics, the global Gini coefficient has reached around 0.7, already crossing the 0.6 alert level. The restructuring of the world economy has had an impact on various industries and groups. 

 

Xi noted that the Hangzhou G20 summit has made development issues the core of global macro policy framework, formulated action plan for the 2030 sustainable development agenda, and supported African countries to carry on industrial cooperation with the least developed countries. All of these trials are of groundbreaking significance.   

The article is translated and edited by Rebecca Lin.