Webinar attendees stress innovation in reforms, collaboration amid challenges

Openness and enhanced global cooperation are key for promoting global economic growth and prosperity amid unprecedented challenges and risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, speakers said at a webinar.

They highlighted the importance of collaboration in promoting international cooperation and mutual understanding, calling for global efforts to boost innovation in reforms of the global governance system and promote exchanges among countries.

"We do have tensions between developed nations and developing nations because both sides are accusing others who are responsible to leave the world out of the climate change crisis, the COVID-19 crisis and the economic recession crisis that we will probably enter in the first and the second quarters of next year," said Alessandro Teixeira, former minister of tourism of Brazil.

Teixeira, who is also a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, noted the increasing inequality gaps between the rich and poor and people at risk of hunger and poverty around the globe, saying the governance model in terms of economic development is not working.

To better tackle global issues, he said the world needs reform on global governance to enhance the voice of developing countries and the global society needs to embrace mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS.

He made the remarks during the webinar themed Global Development and Win-Win Cooperation held on Monday. It was co-hosted by China Daily and the National Institute for Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and featured renowned scholars from the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, Italy and China.

When it comes to the misunderstanding between nations, Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, explained that the Western world has lived in a situation for the past few hundred years where the idea of shared benefit is not well understood, and European countries still have difficulties in achieving shared benefit within European members, let alone with countries like China.

He said it is difficult for Europe to decouple from China, as that means decoupling from the rest of Asia as well as the rest of the world that has the resources Europe needs.

"I was the main supporter of Italy joining the Belt and Road," said Geraci. "As a trade economist, I always see the benefit of trade. I do think that China should bolster the Belt and Road Initiative … that brings peace and prosperity."

Joshua Thomas, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Public Policy Research based in India, said he expects to see more trade and closer exchanges between India, China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Notably, he said efforts should be made to encourage more exchange programs between universities, educational institutions, think tanks and media, which will bring relationships closer, promote the prosperity of Asia and help contribute to global development.

Looking ahead, Liu Shijin, deputy director of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, believed innovations in green technologies will help promote long-term development.

Citing China's goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2060, Liu said he sees huge growth opportunities and China needs to pay more attention to innovative carbon reductions, which means using low-carbon, zero-carbon and carbon-negative technologies to reduce or offset carbon emissions.