Young policymakers need to be innovative, says WEF chief

Young Chinese talent must be "innovative, entrepreneurial and more engaged " while dealing with policymaking matters and their implementation, said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

"We are living in a time of fast transformation, and the key ingredients of competitiveness will be talent, skills, vision and entrepreneurship," Schwab said while delivering a speech at an internal forum hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday.

He used a metaphor to describe a country's competitiveness under the new era: In the past the big fish ate the small fish, but in the future, the fast fish will eat the slow fish; So it is better to be the big and fast fish.

While it would be ideal for China to maintain a 7 percent economic growth rate, it can still double its economy in 15 years if it maintains a 5 percent growth rate under the "new normal" or a slower but more sustainable growth rate. China could also double its economy in 24 years if it sees a 3 percent growth every year, he said.

China is currently ranked 28th in terms of competitiveness globally, according to the latest World Economic Forum rankings, based on figures from 144 nations.

Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the NDRC said with China's economy entering the new normal, the NDRC is exploring ways of improving efficiency and restructuring the agency and one such direction could be to promote a higher-level of opening up.

The NDRC will play an active role in promoting exports of Chinese equipment and the international production capacity of companies in tandem with the "Belt and Road Initiative", he said.