BEIJING, Nov. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With COVID-19 still
causing widespread damage across the world, China on Saturday called for concerted efforts
from major economies to promote more inclusive development and
improve global governance in the post-pandemic era.
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The pandemic, which has infected over 57.4 million people and
killed over 1.3 million worldwide, has exposed many weak links in
global governance. The international community is wondering what
the Group of 20 (G20) can do to make the system better, Chinese
President Xi Jinping said when addressing the G20 Riyadh Summit via
video link.
Xi said the G20, playing an irreplaceable role in the global
fight against COVID-19, should uphold multilateralism, openness,
inclusiveness, mutually beneficial cooperation, and keep pace with
the times.
Created in 1999, the G20 is the main forum for international
cooperation on financial and economic issues. It comprises 19
countries – Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,
Mexico, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa,
South Korea, Turkey, Britain and the
United States – plus the European Union.
Helping developing countries
"We should keep our support for developing countries and help
them overcome the hardships caused by the pandemic," Xi told other
G20 leaders, urging the world's leading economies to pursue more
inclusive development.
China has fully implemented the
G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) while overcoming its
own difficulties, with the total amount exceeding $1.3 billion, he noted.
The G20 launched the DSSI in April to address the immediate
liquidity needs of low-income countries, allowing the debt service
payments due from May 1 to the end of
the year owed by the most impoverished countries to be suspended.
The debt suspension will be extended by another six months until
June 30, 2021, the G20 finance
ministers and central bank governors decided in October.
China ranked first among the
G20 members in terms of debt deferral amounts under the DSSI for
the poorest countries, Finance Minister Liu
Kun said recently.
"China will increase the level
of debt suspension and relief for countries facing particular
difficulties and encourage its financial institutions to provide
new financing support on a voluntary basis and according to market
principles," Xi said in his speech.
He reaffirmed China's
commitment to help and support other developing countries through
making COVID-19 vaccines a public good that is accessible and
affordable around the world.
The Chinese president also called on the G20 to promote free
trade, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, and safeguard
developing countries' right to and space of development.
Tackling global challenges
"We need to build up capacities for tackling global challenges,"
Xi stressed. "The most pressing task of the moment is to shore up
the global public health system and contain COVID-19 and other
infectious diseases."
G20 members should work together to enhance the role of the
World Health Organization and build a global community of health
for all, he said.
Meanwhile, the president called for international cooperation to
protect the environment, fight climate change and build a "clean
and beautiful world where man and nature coexist in harmony."
China announced in September
that it would strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The
country aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030.
The G20 should also play a leadership role in promoting
innovation-driven development in the digital age and improve
economic globalization, according to Xi.
Noting that the pandemic has fueled a boom in new technologies
and business forms, he called for action to turn the crisis into an
opportunity.
"We may deepen structural reform and cultivate new growth
drivers through scientific and technological innovation and digital
transformation," he said.
Commenting on the backlash against economic globalization, he
called for challenges to be addressed head-on and globalization to
be made "more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all."
China's move to establish a new
development paradigm will create more opportunities for countries
around the world to share its achievements in pursuing high-quality
economic development, Xi told other leaders attending the
summit.
China's top leadership has made
a strategic decision to foster a new development paradigm with the
domestic circulation as the mainstay, and internal and external
circulations reinforcing each other.
"China will always be a builder
of global peace, a contributor to global development and a defender
of international order," Xi said. "We may bridge differences
through dialogue, resolve disputes through negotiation, and make a
joint effort for world peace and development."
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbm3JzjkVTA