Global cooperation key for overcoming challenges

Global cooperation must be strengthened to overcome the escalating challenges that the world faces in reaching the goals of common development and prosperity, experts said at a webinar.

Countries should also let go of ideological prejudices to form stronger solidarity in tackling the unprecedented difficulties, they said.

The webinar, themed Global Development and Win-Win Cooperation, co-hosted by China Daily and the National Institute for Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, featured renowned scholars from the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, Italy and China.

Highlighting the severe consequences of the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union, Jeffrey Sachs, an economist from Columbia University, called for immediate de-escalation of the geopolitical tensions between the US and China.

"The US wants to be something it no longer is, which is the (absolute) leader of the world. But we are now in a multipolar world," he told the webinar. "The world doesn't need hegemonism."

In order to promote cooperation and avoid divisions between economies, Sachs said he hopes that China will continue delivering its very cooperative message to the world and that dialogue in Northeast Asia will be strengthened.

The experience that China has gained in modernizing with Chinese characteristics over the past 40 years will be of great value to other developing countries, experts said.

Amine El Kabbaj, program manager and researcher at the Morocco-based Amadeus Institute, said that the Belt and Road Initiative has displayed great potential for win-win cooperation between Africa and China.

The implementation of the BRI is projected to advance connectivity across the African continent and stimulate intra-African commerce while generating substantial opportunities for infrastructure development projects, he said.

"The Silk Road is always preferable to the tank road, and I truly hope that the Belt and Road Initiative will regain its role as the agent of socioeconomic development in Asia, Africa, Europe and any other continent that wishes to join hands to work together for peace," said Michele Geraci, former deputy minister of economic development of Italy.

Yu Yongding, an academic member of the CASS, said it has become particularly important to shun beggar-thy-neighbor conduct, in which policies adopted by one country worsen the problems of others.

Yu said China and the United States should avoid escalating trade, tariff and technology tensions that hurt the global economy, while China and the European Union should strengthen cooperation for win-win results.

Facing momentous changes, it is important to protect international fairness and justice and follow a path of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation to promote the development and modernization of all countries, said Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, in his opening remarks.

Zhao Qi, secretary general of the CASS, suggested that joint efforts should be made to foster new momentum for global development by promoting technological advances and innovation cooperation while expediting the transfer of technology and knowledge sharing.

It is also important to practice true multilateralism and strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, as the degree of room in policy to underpin economic recovery has greatly narrowed globally amid high public debt levels and increasingly tight monetary policies, Zhao said.

Experts at the webinar acknowledged that China is playing a growing role in driving global development and cooperation, as it strives to create new opportunities for the world with its own development on its journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects.

The event also featured other speakers including Liu Shijin, deputy director of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Alessandro Teixeira, former minister of tourism of Brazil, and Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.