AS world leaders are gathering in Southeast Asia for two high-profile global meetings this week, the international community looks on them to pool their wisdom and join efforts to tackle a multitude of challenges and chart a pathway to global recovery.

The 17th Group of 20 (G20) Summit is being held Tuesday and Wednesday in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. It is followed by the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

In the face of overlapping crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, intensifying geopolitical tensions, a fragile global economy and aggravating climate woes, building consensus and enhancing coordination among countries, especially the world’s major economies, will be the focus at the two meetings.

As experts have observed, the G20 and APEC members need to work together to find effective solutions and take joint actions to meet the challenges. There is also hope for a bigger and more positive role that China can play in achieving sustainable and inclusive global development.

Solidarity needed more than ever

Across the planet, the coronavirus is still spreading while the global economy is staggering towards a possible deep recession. What’s worse, the world sees more attempts to form exclusive blocs, clamor for decoupling and incite confrontations, which have severely undermined global solidarity and hampered international cooperation.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the world today faces unprecedented difficulties, and the fate of countries is related, with a crisis in one country sending ripples far and wide.

At this critical moment, members of the G20 and APEC, both major platforms for international economic cooperation, need to take the two gatherings as an opportunity to bridge differences, enhance communication, forge consensus and work in unity.

They are urged to take joint actions to improve global governance, strengthen coordination with each other in such fields as pandemic control, macro-economic policies, trade and investment facilitation and climate change, and keep the global economy stable.

The G20, which is composed of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies and represents more than 80% of the world’s GDP, over 75% of international trade, and about two-thirds of the world population, has to take the leadership and shoulder more responsibilities, just as what it did following the 2008 financial crisis.

“Today we need international cooperation on all these fronts more than we’ve ever needed, but international cooperation is in short supply,” said Peter Drysdale, head of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at Australian National University.

It is of great significance to overcome geopolitical tensions and work together on key issues to stabilize the international economy and international politics, Drysdale said.

Path to recovery

In October, World Bank President David Malpass warned that the global economy is “dangerously close” to a recession, as inflation remains elevated, interest rates are rising, and a growing debt burden hits the developing world, noting that the organization has lowered its 2023 global growth forecast from 3% to 1.9%.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still weighing on global economy, a collective solution to global problems should give priority to economic recovery, by facilitating trade and investment, infrastructure and green finance, observers said.

The G20 Bali Summit, with the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger,” will focus on strengthening the global health infrastructure, accelerating the transition to sustainable energy and promoting digital technologies. It aims to address the widening gap between rich and poor countries.

Such priority is also on the table for the APEC economies. Economic integration, structural reform, regulatory coherence and digitalization are key areas that APEC has been focusing on over the years, which will help the region through this tough time, APEC Secretariat Executive Director Rebecca Sta Maria said.

Over the past decades, countries in the Asia-Pacific have joined forces to expand cooperation and promote regional integration, making the region the world’s most dynamic economy. They have established an ASEAN-centered regional cooperation platform, launched the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and are working towards the goal of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

Coming into effect Jan. 1, the RCEP delivers increasingly prominent dividends to member economies through tariff concessions and trade facilitation. Official data showed that China’s trade with other RCEP members in the first eight months has reached around US$1.2 trillion, accounting for 30.5% of China’s total foreign trade.

China, since joining APEC 31 years ago, has been firmly committed to regional partnerships, free trade and investment, making significant contributions to a multilateral trading system and an open world economy.

Ky Sereyvath, director-general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said China is the stabilizer of global value chains, and has always shared the fruits of development with the rest of the world. “It will contribute significantly to the global economic recovery from the pandemic,” the economist added.

No one left behind

In a report in July, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said that in 2021, the number of people suffering from hunger rose by 46 million to 828 million, which would push the international community further away from reaching the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In this context, the global community needs to work closely together to strengthen cooperation in areas such as food security, COVID-19 response and poverty alleviation. Developed countries should fulfill their pledges on assistance to developing countries.

Over the past years, China has done substantial work in reaching out to poor countries. It has helped improve infrastructure in these countries, shared knowledge and technologies with locals and provided anti-pandemic support such as masks and vaccines. China has also raised a series of proposals such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Development Initiative to strengthen partnerships, promote connectivity and boost economic growth.

A World Bank report has revealed that the BRI could help lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty globally, and boost trade by 2.8% to 9.7% for participating countries and between 1.7% and 6.2% for the world.

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the country’s G20 presidency this year is to strengthen effective global partnerships to ensure that the world economy remains open, fair, mutually beneficial, and that no one is left behind, especially the poor and vulnerable.

“As we have learned from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, no one is safe until everyone is safe,” said Koh King Kee, president of Center for New Inclusive Asia, a Malaysian think tank, urging the developed world to help vulnerable countries overcome their lack of resources and build infrastructure to meet future health challenges.

Indonesia is trying to contribute to global economic recovery, through the digitization of small businesses, expanding financial inclusion, and encouraging cooperation in innovation and technology transfer, Chairman of the Indonesian think tank Asia Innovation Study Center Bambang Suryono said.

(Xinhua)

G20

G20 member nations are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. All of their leaders are expected to attend this year’s summit except Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his stead.