A new blueprint for global growth

And all of us share one and the same goal, that is, to make the Hangzhou Summit deliver fruitful outcomes. What we see here in Hangzhou showcases what has been achieved in the great course of reform and opening-up China has embarked upon.
Modernizing a big country with a population of more than 1.3 billion is an endeavour never undertaken in the history of mankind, and this means China must pursue its own path of development. …. Thanks to our perseverance, resolve and dedication, and the spirit of driving the nail, we have succeeded in turning China into the world's second biggest economy, the biggest trader of goods and the third largest direct overseas investor, and lifted China's per capita GDP to close to 8,000 US dollars.
Development is for the people; it should be pursued by the people and its outcomes should be shared by the people. This is what China's reform, opening-up and socialist modernization drive are all about. Thanks to this reform and opening-up endeavour, China has lifted over 700 million people out of poverty and significantly made life better for its 1.3 billion-plus people. In pursuing development, we have accomplished just in a few decades what has taken other countries several hundred years to achieve.
… We have pursued an independent foreign policy of peace and a fundamental policy of opening-up. We have endeavored to develop in an open environment, starting by introducing large scale overseas investment and then going global with big strides. We have been actively involved in building a fairer and more equitable international order. China's interaction with the outside world has deepened.
…. China has reached a new historical starting point. It is a new starting point for China to deepen reform across the board and foster new drivers of economic and social development. It is a new starting point for China to adapt its economy to a new normal and transform its growth model. It is a new starting point for China to further integrate itself into the world and open itself wider to the world. …. We will pursue an innovation-driven development strategy to create stronger growth drivers. Scientific and technological innovation holds the key to development. We are keenly aware that many sectors of China's economy are not strong or competitive enough despite their big sizes. Over the years, they have depended on input of resources, capital and labor force to achieve growth and expand scale. But this model is no longer sustainable. China now faces the challenging task of changing its growth drivers and growth model and adjusting its economic structure.
Starting from 2016, we have been vigorously advancing supply-side structural reform and taking the initiative to adjust the relationship between supply and demand. We will cut down production capacity of crude steel by another 100 million to 150 million tons in the next five years, close more coal mines with production capacity of around 500 million tons and cut production capacity of around 500 million tons through coal mine restructuring in three to five years. This is an initiative that we are taking to cut excess capacity, adjust the economic structure and pursue steady growth so as to sustain long-term development.
. . . We will promote equity and sharing of development outcomes to deliver more benefits to the people. The people are the foundation of a country and only when the people lead a good life can the country thrive. We need to be people-oriented, a principle that we should follow in everything we do in advancing economic and social development. We will continue to be fully involved in economic globalization and support the multilateral trading regime. We will expand access for foreign investment, facilitate such investment to promote fair and open competition and create a sound business environment. We will also accelerate negotiation on FTAs and investment treaties with relevant countries and the development of high-standard pilot free trade zones in China. While carrying out market-based reform of the RMB exchange rate in an orderly manner and phasing in the opening of domestic capital market, we will continue efforts to make the RMB an international currency and further internationalize China's financial sector.
China's development has benefited from the international community, and we are ready to provide more public goods to the international community. I have proposed the initiative of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to share China's development opportunities with countries along the Belt and Road and achieve common prosperity. Major progress has been made in launching key projects and building the economic corridors of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is well underway. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China has already started its positive role in regional infrastructure development.
The world economy is now in profound adjustments and moving along a twisted path to recovery. It stands at a crucial juncture where new growth drivers are taking the place of old ones. The dynamism provided by the last round of scientific and industrial revolution is waning while new impetus for growth is still in the making. Currently, protectionism is rising; global trade and investment are sluggish; the multilateral trading regime faces bottlenecks in development, and the emergence of various regional trade arrangements have led to fragmentation of rules. Complex geopolitical factors and regional hot-spot issues as well as global challenges such as political and security conflicts and turmoil, refugee crisis, climate change and terrorism have all affected the world economy with consequences that cannot be overlooked.
Against such complex situation as well as risks and challenges facing the world economy, the international community has high expectations on the G20 and the Hangzhou Summit. … we need to build an innovative world economy to generate new drivers of growth. Innovation holds the key to fundamentally unleashing the growth potential. … China has made "breaking a new path for growth" one of the major agenda items of the Hangzhou Summit and has worked for the formulation of a G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth. What we want to achieve is to seek impetus through innovation and vitality through reform. We need to seize the historic opportunity presented by innovation, new scientific and technological revolution, industrial transformation and digital economy to increase medium- and long-term growth potential of the world economy. This will be the first time that the G20 takes action on innovation.
… We need to build an open world economy to expand the scope of development. The path of world economic development shows that openness brings progress and isolation leads to backwardness. To repeat the beggar-thy-neighbor approach will not help any country get out of the crisis or recession. It only narrows the space for common development in the world economy and will lead to a "lose-lose" scenario.
… We need to build an interconnected world economy to forge interactive synergy. In the age of economic globalization, countries are closely linked in their development and they all rise and fall together. No country could seek development on its own; and the one sure path is through coordination and cooperation. We need to realize interconnected development by promoting common development of the world economy.
We need to increase the interconnection of our rules and policies. We need to maximize the positive spillovers and minimize the negative external impacts through coordination of our macroeconomic policies. At the same time, we also need to encourage mutual learning to address asymmetries in systems, policies and standards. We need to enhance the interconnection of our infrastructure. China has put forward the global infrastructure connectivity alliance initiative to encourage multilateral development banks to adopt joint declaration of aspirations and give greater funds and intellectual support to infrastructure projects to speed up the process of global infrastructure connectivity. We need to promote win-win interconnection, foster and improve the global value chain and increase the participation of parties concerned so as to create a chain of win-win global growth.
… We need to build an inclusive world economy to strengthen the foundation for win-win outcomes. We need to eradicate poverty and hunger and advance inclusive and sustainable development. This is not just a moral responsibility of the international community. It also helps unleash immeasurable effective demand. According to relevant statistics, the world's Gini coefficient has reached around 0.7, higher than the recognized alarm level which stands at 0.6. This is something we must pay great attention to.
… This year's G20 has, for the first time, put the issue of development front and center of the global macro policy framework. The first action plan has been formulated for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and for the first time, cooperation is being carried out to support African countries and least developed countries (LDCs) in their industrialization. All these are moves of pioneering significance. The parties have all committed themselves to working for an early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change. … We hope to convey a message to the international community that the G20 works for the interest of not just its 20 members, but the whole world. We will work to ensure that growth and development benefit all countries and peoples and that the livelihood of all people, especially those in developing countries, will get better day by day.
One action counts more than a dozen programs. G20 members should join other members of international community and act immediately and in good faith. … we can work together to build a peaceful and stable international environment. History has proven time and again that without peace, there will be no development and without stability, there will be no prosperity. Countries are all closely linked in their security. No country can develop solely on its own or resolve all problems without working with others. It is important to reject the outdated Cold War mentality and build a new concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.
… We can work together to build a global partnership for win-win cooperation. In the era of economic globalization, there is no island completely cut off from the rest of the world. As members of the global village, we need to cultivate the awareness of a community of shared future for mankind. Partnership is the most valuable asset of the G20 and the choice of all countries as they rise up together to global challenges. … We need to step up communication and coordination on major global issues and provide more public goods for the fostering of a peaceful, stable and prosperous world. We need to institute and steadily improve macroeconomic policy coordination mechanisms, be mindful of the related and chain effects of our domestic policies and ensure their positive rather than negative spillovers.
… We can work together to improve global economic governance. … As the world economic situation changes, it is necessary that global economic governance remains relevant and adaptive to the changing times. Global economic governance should be based on equality, better reflect the new realities of the world economic landscape, increase the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries and ensure that all countries have equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules to follow in international economic cooperation.
Global economic governance should embrace openness. It should be based on open concepts, open policies and open mechanisms so as to adapt to the changing situation. It should be open to constructive suggestions and the recommendations and aspirations of different quarters of society. It should encourage active participation and integration of various parties, reject exclusive arrangements and avoid closed governance mechanisms and fragmentation of rules. Global economic governance should be driven by cooperation, as global challenges require global responses, and cooperation is the necessary choice.
… Since the G20 has convened ten summits, it has come to a crucial juncture of development. One of the goals of China's G20 Presidency is to enable the G20 to transform from a crisis response mechanism focusing on short-term policies to one of long-term governance that shapes medium- to long-term policies, and solidify its role as the premier forum for international economic governance.
… The business community is the main driver of growth. By convening the B20 Summit on the eve of the G20 Summit, China wishes to fully pool the ideas and wisdom of the business community. I am pleased to see that the business people from G20 countries have taken an active part in the G20 process throughout the year.
This is an abridged version of the key-note speech by the President of The People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, at the opening session of
the Business Summit of G20.
Courtesy: People's Daily of China