Kevin Rudd (L), Chairman of International Finance Forum (IFF) and former Prime Minister of Australia, gives an exclusive interview to Xinhuanet in Shanghai, on Sept. 1, 2016. The 13th Annual Conference of International Finance Forum (IFF) is held in Shanghai from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. (Xinhuanet/Pei Xin)
SHANGHAI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's views on global economic governance are very important, Kevin Rudd, chairman of the International Finance Forum (IFF) and former prime minister of Australia, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview here on Thursday.
"China plays a more active role in global governance in general, both in the United Nations, but also in the global economic institutions as well," said Rudd, who came to Shanghai to attend the 13th annual conference of the IFF scheduled from Wednesday to Friday.
"I think in the history of G20 (Group of 20), my observation, as someone who has attended a number of these meetings is that China has always been a constructive voice in these meetings, because of the size of the economy now, a critical voice," he said.
Under the theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," this year's G20 summit is scheduled on Sunday and Monday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Under China's proposal, green finance is for the first time written into the agenda of the G20 summit.
Rudd stressed three areas should be focused on while talking about the influence of green finance on global financial governance.
For starters, the infrastructure of the emerging economies should be emphasized, he said, which is what the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the New Silk Road Fund and the Belt and Road Initiative are trying to do.
Secondly, the key question is how to finance environmental sustainability: what could be obtained in finance and how financial products could be produced to further drive the environmental sector of the economy, given an 8-percent annual growth rate on trade, goods and services in the environmental sector of the economy.
The third point is how to identify finance at a small level, he said, noting that finance should be delivered flexibly to new entrepreneurs and small businesses across the world through creative platforms like Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant.
"So the challenge for finance is finance in infrastructure, finance for green development, and finance also for small businesses and starter businesses that are particularly run by women," he said.
At the conference, Rudd released a report entitled "UN 2030: Rebuilding Order in a Fragmenting World." The report, complete with recommendations for the next UN Secretary General, was written in his capacity as chair of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism.
"This report that I have spent the last two years on is about how do you make the United Nations more fit for purpose for the new challenges of the 21st century in peace, security and sustainable development, humanitarian support and other areas as well," he said.
