China News Service, Beijing, March 24, Title: Rebuilding Confidence and Jointly Promoting Development, Four Highlights of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024
China News Service reporter Chen Su
The Boao Forum for Asia 2024 Annual Conference will be held in Boao, Hainan from March 26 to 29. With the theme of "Asia and the World: Common Challenges, Common Responsibilities", this annual meeting focuses on current global challenges and explores ways to rebuild confidence and jointly promote development. Four major highlights are worthy of attention.
——Send China’s development signal
In 2023, China's economy will grow by 5.2%, ranking among the top of the world's major economies. It will contribute more than 30% to global economic growth and is an important engine for world economic growth. China's strength is crucial to respond to global challenges and promote economic recovery.
The Boao Forum for Asia is an important window for the outside world to perceive China's development signals. In 2023, China's economy will achieve its expected growth target, but there will also be difficulties and challenges such as insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations. What are the prospects for China's economy in the next stage? What new dynamics will China’s high-quality development and high-level opening-up bring to the world? This forum has important sections such as "Prospecting China's Economy", which will analyze China's economic development path.
In the face of countercurrents, China continues to promote the development of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and creates a beneficial platform for international cooperation. The 10-year-old “One Belt, One Road” initiative has also entered a new stage of “high-quality development”. This year's Boao Forum Annual Conference has set topics such as "High-quality joint construction of the 'Belt and Road'" to explore how to better inject new momentum into the joint construction of the country's economic transformation and industrial structure adjustment, and send a strong signal of open cooperation.
——Rebuilding confidence in the world economy
The global economy is currently recovering slowly. Data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that the global economy will grow by 3.5% in 2022, declining to 3.1% in 2023, and is expected to be roughly the same in 2024, which is lower than the historical (2000-2019) average of 3.8%.
The world economy currently faces many challenges such as low growth, high inflation and uncertainty in the trade environment. Rebuilding confidence, strengthening cooperation and finding opportunities have become important issues that need to be solved urgently in the current world.
This annual meeting focuses on the problems faced by the world economy and sets up a "World Economy" section to invite participants to jointly look forward to the world economy and explore solutions.
According to the IMF's outlook, Asia's growth forecast for 2024 has been raised to 4.5% from 4.2% in October 2023. The growth rate is significantly higher than other regions. Asia is expected to once again contribute two-thirds to global economic growth in 2024, becoming significant opportunities for global economic growth. The Boao Forum for Asia will explore Asia's opportunities for world economic recovery through topics such as "Investing in Asia's Future" and "Building Asia's Growth Center".
——Promote global solidarity and cooperation
Affected by factors such as the COVID-19 epidemic and geopolitical conflicts, the globalization process has encountered obstacles and global cooperation is facing challenges. The latest "Global Trade Update Report" released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows that global trade will shrink by US$1 trillion in 2023 and continues to be sluggish under the "anti-globalization" trend.
Looking back at human history, integration is a major trend and the process of globalization is irreversible. Only unity and cooperation can effectively deal with various problems currently facing the world.
The original intention of the Boao Forum for Asia was to promote Asian economic integration and gather positive energy for the development of Asia and the world. This annual meeting will continue to carry out this mission, through the "International Cooperation" section, "Reducing Trade Fragmentation", "Deepening Asian Financial Cooperation", "Global Geopolitical Outlook", "Global Free Trade Port Development: Open Cooperation with Partners" and other forums, and multiple entrepreneur dialogues, providing a platform for global exchanges and cooperation.
——Stimulate the momentum of scientific and technological innovation
Scientific and technological innovation has become an important engine for economic and social development and a powerful weapon to respond to global challenges. The Boao Forum for Asia has set up a scientific and technological innovation section for many years in a row.
This year’s annual conference will continue to focus on technological revolution and industrial transformation, and many activities related to technological innovation on the agenda are very eye-catching. For example, "How far are we from the 'singularity' of the scientific and technological revolution?" will discuss what breakthroughs will occur in disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence in the future, and "'Innovation, green, digital intelligence, and integration' lead high-quality development" will discuss how to create The importance of new productivity and promoting high-quality industrial development.
As extreme weather events become more frequent, the public attaches increasing importance to low-carbon development. "Accelerating the move towards zero-carbon electricity" and "Accelerating action to respond to climate change" will discuss green low-carbon development and green technology innovation. In recent years, many countries have restarted coal power, and the global energy structure adjustment process has not been smooth. The "Energy Low-Carbon Transformation" sub-forum will also explore ways to "break" and "build". (over)