Leaders of major economies in the world are gathering in Osaka, Japan for the 14th Group of 20 (G20) Summit this week as protectionism and unilateralism still shroud the world economy. The international community expects the summit to be an opportunity to deepen global economic governance.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is attending the G20 Summit. The international community is listening to China's voice on how to improve global economic governance.
The G20 has evolved into a prime platform for global economic governance. With major developed countries and major emerging economies involved, the group has a total economic output accounting for about 85 percent of the global economy and a population accounting for two thirds of the world’s total.
It’s fair to say that the situation of the G20 is a barometer that indicates the health of world economy. The concerns and trends of the G20 reflect the trends of the world economy and the core issues in global governance.
Currently, the surge of protectionism and unilateralism have severely affected the world economic order, causing risks and uncertainties to the world economy in recent years. The role the G20 mechanism plays in global economic governance is more important than ever and the international community is eagerly expecting a breakthrough in the G20 Osaka summit.
The global economy, trade and investment are among the eight main themes of this year’s G20 summit. At the G20 Buenos Aires Summit last year, many leaders called for the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Director-General of the WTO Roberto Azevedo also called on joint efforts to reform the WTO's dispute settlement system this year and said that there are hopes from WTO members that trade tensions will be alleviated at the G20 summit in Japan.
Earlier this month, finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G20 countries agreed to continue efforts to take further action to address the risks coming from the intensified trade and geopolitical tensions.
As to challenges concerning the sustainable development of human civilization, G20 members also coordinate their policies and strive for a clean global environment. Last week, G20 ministers agreed to create an international framework that aims at establishing voluntary measures to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean.
China has long participated in the construction of the G20 mechanism in a positive and constructive manner and actively provided constructive solutions.
China successfully hosted the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016. The summit has pushed to upgrade the G20 from a crisis response mechanism to a long-term governance platform and is regarded as a milestone in the history of G20 cooperation.
The G20 summit this year is the seventh consecutive time for Xi to attend or chair the G20 Summit. This fully demonstrates the great importance and faith the Chinese side attaches to G20 cooperation and global economic governance.
At the G20 Buenos Aires Summit last year, Xi called on G20 members to stay committed to openness and cooperation and uphold the multilateral trading system, to stay committed to innovation and create new momentum for growth and to stay committed to win-win cooperation to promote inclusive global development.
As the G20 Osaka Summit approaches, China is ready to work with all sides to make in-depth exchanges on various issues and forge consensus, and to promote global economic governance.
It is believed that the Osaka Summit will achieve positive and practical economic and trade results, promote economic globalization to develop toward a more open, inclusive, universally beneficial, balanced and win-win direction, and inject momentum into promoting world economic growth.