The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2023 was held from March 28-31 in Boao, Hainan, under the theme An Uncertain World: Solidarity and Cooperation for Development amid Challenges. This BFA annual conference set four panels: "Development and Benefit for All", "Governance and Security", "Region and World", and "Present and Future". It is the first fully offline conference since the COVID-19 outbreak three years ago, and an important major multilateral diplomatic event after China's Two Sessions. Over 30 sub-forums and events were held during the 4-day conference. Around 2,000 guests from over 50 countries and regions attended the conference, jointly analyzing the situation in Asia and the world, building consensus for cooperation and development, and contributing new wisdom to global governance and development.
01 Build development consensus to promote global governance through openness and inclusiveness
Since 2013, President Xi Jinping has delivered keynote speeches at BFA annual conferences five times, expounding on China's development philosophy, answering the questions of the times, and contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to building a community with a shared future for mankind and creating a better future for Asia and the world. At the forum, Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of BFA, called for abandoning confrontation and conflict, and responding to global uncertainty through solidarity and cooperation: "Geopolitical confrontation, ideological conflicts and fragmentation of geo-economy will only waste valuable time and energy. Solidarity in facing long-term common challenges is the right choice to overcome uncertainty."
The great changes of the century are accelerating. Local conflicts and turmoil occur frequently. Globalization encounters "counter-currents". Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez said global issues cannot be solved unilaterally, and global challenges should be met by relying on a strong, transparent and rules-based multilateral system. To solve current problems and promote future development, countries need to actively seize opportunities and strengthen dialogue and cooperation. Participants generally believe that in today's uncertain world, seeking certainty requires riding out the storm together through openness and inclusiveness, and promoting global governance towards a more just and reasonable direction. BFA's philosophy of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits is injecting more certainty into world development.
02 Restore confidence in development to promote world economic recovery
Due to the century epidemic, geopolitical conflicts and other factors, the global economy today faces huge challenges: high inflation, soaring energy prices, disrupted supply chains, etc. Facing this, how to find a new balance between controlling inflation and promoting economic recovery? How to maintain the stability and security of global supply and industrial chains? Participants shared their latest understanding of the current global economic and financial changes, and called for attaching importance to financial stability while fighting inflation. Monetary policy needs to coordinate with macro-regulation. Multi-sectoral and targeted policy mix should be implemented. On supply chain issues, Aniel Mahabier, Partner & CEO of AlixPartners, said regionalization is an important trend in current industrial and supply chain layouts. "Regionalization can become the cornerstone of everything, and the global trading system looks increasingly favorably on regional manufacturing hubs." In this regard, high hopes are placed on the Asia-Pacific region.
Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of the New Development Bank, Anil Kishora, said the Asia-Pacific region, as the world's manufacturing center, will play an increasingly important role in driving global economic growth and ensuring the stability of industrial and supply chains. Only when Asia is well can the world be better. "Asia will become the focus of global consumption growth, driving adjustments in global supply and value chains. Countries need to adapt to the trend and strengthen cooperation to explore development opportunities," said Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives of Pakistan Ahsan Iqbal. The greater the challenges, the more we need to strengthen open cooperation to form a powerful force to steadily restore economic growth; the greater the challenges, the more we need to deepen regional integration and take new steps towards win-win cooperation in Asia.
03 Share development opportunities for mutual benefit
Digital economy, internet, AI, green development became the hottest topics at the conference. "The digital economy is becoming a key force reshaping global factor allocation, economic structure and competitive landscape," said Liu Jianguo, Vice Chairman of KPMG China. With the thriving development of digital technologies, digital transformation has become a new engine for China's industries to move towards the high end of the global value chain. Statistics show there were at least 7 sub-forums on green development at the conference. The development of green industries such as clean energy will bring new space for economic growth and inject new impetus into global economic recovery. Ivorian Prime Minister Patrick Achi said China's measures in areas like vigorously developing ecological civilization and renewable energy have deeply inspired us on climate issues. In a world full of uncertainty, the world urgently needs to explore new opportunities and open up new space. "China will adhere to the fundamental national policy of opening-up, firmly pursue a win-win strategy of opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the world with China's new development," said participants. In the face of an uncertain world, only by sharing opportunities through openness and meeting challenges through cooperation can the source of confidence in global development be cemented, and the new chapter of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes be continuously written.
04 Perspectives
This BFA annual conference has provided important guidance on addressing global uncertainty, and the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind has pointed the right direction for countries to jointly meet challenges. All parties oppose camp confrontation, protectionism, disorderly competition and economic fragmentation, and advocate stronger solidarity and cooperation in the international community to jointly address global challenges. All parties applaud China's support for multilateralism and regional cooperation, look forward to seizing the opportunities of China's robust economic development in the post-pandemic era to promote the recovery of international investment and trade, and jointly promote regional and world peace and development. China will adhere to the fundamental national policy of opening-up and firmly pursue a win-win strategy of opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the world with China's new development. BFA has also sent a strong voice of the times to the world: Through solidarity, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, human society will march towards a better future!
Data Source | Official Website of Boao Forum for Asia
Text | Hua Hongqi
Layout | Li Ting
Editor | Mao Haijun
