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 on Monday.

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, Morocco 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."

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.

Echoing Sachs' views, Yu Yongding, an academic member of the CASS, said China and the United States should avoid escalating trade, tariff and technology tensions that hurt the global economy.

It has become particularly important to shun beggar-thy-neighbor conduct, in which policies adopted by one country worsen the problems of others, as economies across the world are projected to face widespread difficulties next year, Yu said.

To sustain inclusive global development despite the mounting challenges of geopolitical tensions, stagflation risks and rising debts, experts underlined the necessity to maintain the rules-based trading regime and amplify the role of multilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms.

Though it can be difficult to totally stop trade and investment controls, boundaries of the controls should be set clearly to avoid undesirable consequences, said Fukunari Kimura, chief economist of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

Economic activity outside the controls needs to be placed under the rules-based trading regime, meaning that the role of the World Trade Organization should be strengthened, according to Kimura.

Meanwhile, the world needs to embrace the mechanisms that help developing economies have their voice, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, said Alessandro Teixeira, former minister of tourism of Brazil.

Common development of humankind cannot be achieved "if we don't take everybody on board of this discussion", Teixeira said.

Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, in his opening remarks, called for efforts 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 in the face of facing momentous changes.

Prosperity and stability cannot be possible in a world where the rich become richer while the poor are made poorer. All major countries should perform their due responsibilities, and do their best for the cause of global development, according to Qu.

Zhao Qi, secretary general of the CASS, said it is 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.

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.

Amine El Kabbaj, program manager and researcher at the Morocco-based Amadeus Institute, said that the BRI 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.

The role of innovation should also be fully tapped to power the world economy, the experts added, highlighting the importance of keeping the international flows of technologies open.

Zhao from 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.

Liu Shijin, deputy director of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said technological innovation can help create synergy between the efforts to pursue economic growth and to reduce carbon emissions.

This is because the use of green technologies can realize lower carbon emissions than traditional production modes while obtaining the same amount of output, Liu said.

Meanwhile, Joshua Thomas, a distinguished fellow of the Center for Public Policy Research, based in India, underlined the necessity of bringing people's minds together in achieving global development.

Citing that people's minds are still apart among India, China and member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thomas said he sincerely hopes that people-to-people contact in the region will help bring language, culture and relationships much closer to advance win-win cooperation.