Leaders of gov'ts, int'l organizations call for rewiring growth amid fragility

TIANJIN - Foreign political leaders and heads of international organizations who are attending the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions which opened here on Tuesday called for meeting challenges head-on, restoring growth and addressing global issues against the backdrop of compounded global challenges and weak economic growth.

The current challenges, such as an economic downturn, inflationary pressures, lack of geopolitical cohesion, and lingering impacts of the pandemic cannot be resolved by any single country, said Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh.

"When we take a global approach, we need to have global solidarity," he said, stressing the importance of multilateralism and putting people at the center. He also said it was important to activate new growth drivers such as green economy and circular economy, revitalize business and manufacturing industries, create employment opportunities, further expand market access, and increase investment and trade.

Noting "a trend in some parts of the world to be more inward-looking" due to "the challenges that we all face," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said, "Actually, I think looking outward is how we're going to solve those problems."

"The whole world will need to work together to solve challenges around climate change. I don't think an inward-looking focus for any country is going to serve their longer-term interests particularly well," he said, adding that as sci-tech development is creating enormous opportunities, all parties should join forces to accelerate global economic development and strive for a more open world.

While World Bank research shows that the long-term growth potential of both developed and developing countries and emerging market economies are declining due to some structural factors, there are still some opportunities in world trade, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

"The situation of slower growth in trade would be made far worse if the world were to decouple or fragment," she said, calling for avoiding trade decoupling, creating resilient global supply chains, relieving the supply-chain tensions caused by the pandemic and regional conflicts, and fully leverage the opportunities for trade growth brought by digital services.

In addition, she encouraged policymakers to build confidence, invest in developing digital and green economies, and address global wealth inequality.

Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley said that if there is a time for the public and private sectors, the East and the West, as well as the Global South and the North, to work together to address global crises such as climate change, "it is now."

"Part of the difficulty is that we cannot take another crisis, and decoupling presents that risk," she said. "Regrettably, it will carry certain countries over the edge."

Advocating for exploring potential through collaboration and making joint efforts to enhance global economic recovery and stability, she also emphasized the importance of increasing investment in African countries and promoting the availability of electricity and Internet connectivity on the continent.

With the theme of "Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy," the three-day event, also known as the Summer Davos, held in northern China's Tianjin city, marked the first offline edition after the COVID-19 pandemic.