Development issue to take prominent position in G20 Hangzhou summit

BEIJING - The upcoming G20 Summit will focus more on development issues to inject new impetus into the world economy and promote international consensus on development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Friday.

The 11th G20 summit will be held from Sept. 4 to 5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, with China choosing "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy" as the theme of the Hangzhou summit, identifying four key priorities, namely, "breaking a new path for growth," "more effective and efficient global economic and financial governance," "robust international trade and investment" and "inclusive and interconnected development."

As one of the key priorities to be discussed, "inclusive and interconnected development" is expected to be a highlight of the summit, Lu said, adding that this entails sustainable development, promoting coordinated growth of various economies, interconnected industries with win-win results and shared prosperity of all sectors.

It is the first time for such development issues to take a prominent position within the global macropolicy framework and the first time an action plan has been created to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Lu said.

Lu said that it was hoped that collective and individual actions on the part of the G20 will give a strong impetus to the UN sustainable development agenda.

He said that we will make a proposal on cooperation to support the industrialization of Africa and lesser developed countries (LDCs), supporting these countries to speed up industrialization and reduce poverty and pursue sustainable development.

"We will have discussions covering a wide range of subjects, including agriculture, employment, business, as well as women and youth to encourage entrepreneurship," he said

"Robust international trade and investment" will also be a focus of discussion, which aims to enhance understanding and expand consensus via effective use of the WTO multilateral mechanism and bilateral economic communication, according to Lu.

How to oppose trade and investment protectionism and boost the growth of trade and investment is a common concern, Lu said.

Lu briefed the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Shanghai in July this year.

G20 economies will remain committed to an open global economy, and will further work towards trade liberalization and facilitation, according to the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting Statement, the first of its kind in G20 history.

To arrest the slowdown of global trade growth, China is working with all parties to maintain an open and safe global trade system to realize inclusive growth.

The Hangzhou summit will take tangible action to promote strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the global economy, Lu said.