Leaving no country behind

WEF annual meeting offers opportunity for multilateral and multi-stakeholder efforts to identify and implement solutions to meet the goals of the Global Development Initiative

The World Economic Forum has been convening leaders to promote multilateralism and multistakeholder solutions to global challenges since its first annual meeting held more than 50 years ago in Davos, Switzerland, in 1971.Multilateralism means not only agreeing on a set of global principles and rules, but also drawing on the diverse knowledge, strengths and perspectives from different sides to quickly turn new knowledge into collective action.

At this year's annual meeting, taking place in May after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, alignment and cooperation across countries, companies and civil society groups is needed more than ever. Perhaps even more importantly, leaders need a trusted space to air differences and do the hard work of seeking common ground.

Five years ago in 2017, when President Xi Jinping attended the forum for the first time, he placed great emphasis on the shared responsibility to promote global growth. In January this year, he joined the forum's virtual Davos Agenda and further reiterated the importance of global collaboration. Moreover, he proposed the Global Development Initiative and called for all partners to "jointly translate the initiative into concrete actions and make sure that no country is left behind".

The GDI is a timely call-for-action to address the immediate challenges that threaten our collective ability to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in just eight years' time. Today, no country can face global challenges alone. Disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the conflict in Ukraine, show that a lack of global collaboration and multilateralism is the true barriers to overcome, not technological or adaptive challenges.

Reflecting on the eight priority areas of the GDI, and responding to President Xi's appeal to "translate the initiative into concrete actions", some early examples are emerging of how a multilateral and multistakeholder effort can work to identify and implement solutions.

Equitable vaccine access is one of the priority agenda points of the GDI. We applaud China's effort to make vaccines for the global public good by contributing to existing global multilateral mechanisms－a $100 million pledge to Gavi, COVAX and continuous commitments to assist at least 53 countries with vaccines.

There is a window of opportunity for vaccine manufacturing in low and middle-income countries to harness political and financial commitments to rebalance global manufacturing capacity. However, such partnerships rely on a complex, globalized ecosystem which requires the coordination of multiple stakeholders if they are to thrive and be sustainable. The forum has established a vaccine manufacturing "exchange platform" to discuss existing initiatives and work collectively to find synergies and overcome shared challenges.

Another key element of the GDI focuses on the urgent needs of developing countries to manage natural resources and achieve harmony between humans and nature, and how to finance this endeavor. Avoiding climate and energy transition risks and improving outcomes for sustainable economies and societies are a goal for all of us.

Globally, the forum is working with partners from government, business and civil society to develop innovative financial instruments and business models to demonstrate and commercialize green technologies across borders and facilitate the transition of hard-to-abate industry activities, such as energy, materials and mobility.

In China and in emerging economies along the Belt and Road, the forum will leverage our cross-industry expertise to create a dedicated Carbon Neutrality Community and a set of initiatives as part of the wider Climate Action Platform.

Meanwhile, on the nature side of the green development equation, the Tropical Forest Alliance, a coalition supported by the forum, serves as an impartial platform for public-private partnerships to promote food system resilience, livelihood support and climate change across the value chain.

The forum brings this expertise to China through a partnership with the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to map out a national strategic framework on green value chains, facilitating developing countries, particularly tropical countries, to strengthen their resilience and synergy on conservation and rural smallholder development through bilateral and multi-stakeholder dialogues.

About 47 percent of people in the world do not use the internet. The cost of available broadband exceeds affordability targets in 50 percent of developed countries; affordable usage remains a challenge in even the most advanced countries. Thus, we fully agree with the GDI's priority that the digital economy and digital inclusion are foundational to inclusive economic growth, social equity and the SDGs－unlocking transformational outcomes across every sector, including efficient and accessible healthcare; equitable education; financial inclusion; healthy small, medium and micro business; and food security.

China has made efforts to address these complex topics related to the digital economy. Given China's success in bringing 1 billion citizens online over the past decade, there is surely much to learn and share in this type of initiative. Moreover, there is a great opportunity for China to demonstrate the value of a connected health system and to pioneer solutions in digital health that other regions can learn from.

A multilateral approach is a foundational requirement to resolve the challenges and difficulties of global security, economic and social development. Constant communication, increasing systematic conversations and exchange of ideas are necessary in the current environment.

We hope that initiatives such as the GDI and the combined efforts of Chinese and global stakeholders from government, business and civil society will help accelerate joint problem-solving and a renewed multilateralism to advance progress on the SDGs and provide a pathway to a more peaceful and prosperous world.

The author is chief representative officer at the China Office of the World Economic Forum Beijing. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn