BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of the Joint Press Release on the Second "1+6" Roundtable on September 12 in Beijing.
China's Premier Li Keqiang, together with World Bank Group (WBG) President Jim Yong Kim, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo, International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Angel Gurria and Financial Stability Board (FSB) Chairman Mark Carney held the "1+6" Roundtable Meeting under the theme of "Promoting an Open, Invigorated and Inclusive World Economy" in Beijing, September 12th 2017. Chinese government and international organizations participating in the Roundtable (hereinafter referred to as "we") reached the following consensus:
1. Macroeconomic Developments and Policies
While the world economy is picking up steam, we recognize that there are deep-seated problems, many uncertainties and destabilizing factors. Countries need to continue to use all policy tools - monetary, fiscal and structural reform policies to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Monetary policy will continue to support economic activity and ensure price stability, consistent with central banks' mandates. Fiscal policy will be used flexibly and be growth-friendly while ensuring debt as a share of GDP is on a sustainable path. Structural reform policies will be tailored, prioritized and sequenced based on country circumstances, with special focuses on boosting infrastructure investment, inclusiveness, innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation, so as to lift productivity and potential growth, while enhance resilience. Countries need to enhance communication and coordination in macro-economic policies, further strengthen growth and safeguard against downside pressures.
China remains committed to the underlying principle of making progress while keeping performance stable, firmly implementing new development concepts, adapting to and steering the economic "New Normal", and focuses on supply-side structural reforms, while moderately increasing aggregate demand and improving the expectation management. China has further implemented the innovation-driven strategy, boosted market vitality and social creativity by streamlining administration, delegating powers, strengthening regulation and improving services, and facilitated the transition to new growth engines from traditional ones by promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation. With these efforts, China has achieved a steady and improved growth, which was not easy. In the first half of 2017, China's GDP grew at 6.9%, which was within a reasonable range, major indicators outperformed forecasts, including faster growth in fiscal revenue, enterprise profits and household income, and the RMB exchange rate maintained at a stable level. The economic structure further adjusted and improved, as manifested through greater contribution by consumption to the growth, rapid adjustment of industrial structure, ongoing and orderly reduction of excess and backward capacity. As many as 16,000 new enterprises were registered on an average day, over 13 million new urban jobs were generated annually in the past few years. The threshold for foreign investment has been reduced further, and the investment and market environment has been improved. We believe that with the supply-side structural reforms further deepened and more policy measures implemented, the Chinese economy is on track to achieve a higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, and more sustainable growth, and will continue to contribute to the global economic growth.
2. Economic Globalization
Globalization has provided a strong momentum to world economic growth, promoted capital and commodity flows, advanced development of technology and civilization, and built a closer tie between people worldwide. Facing both challenges and opportunities, we need to guide the direction of economic globalization and make it more invigorated, inclusive, and sustainable. In order to release greater positive effects of economic globalization, all economies need to proactively advance economic reforms, innovate the growth model, and focus on inclusiveness of development, at the mean time, to strengthen international cooperation, avoid inward-looking policies, and fight against all kinds of protectionism, so as to promote an open world economy.
China successfully hosted the Belt and Road forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this past May. Based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint efforts and shared benefits, the forum achieved fruitful results on policy consultation, infrastructure connectivity, trade promotion, financial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, and injected new momentum to promote interconnected growth and facilitate common prosperity. The international organizations participating in the Roundtable welcome and support the Belt and Road Initiative which could help promote economic globalization, strengthen regional interconnection and deepen international cooperation, and are willing to join together with China and countries involved in the Belt and Road to push the initiative.
3. Sustainable Development
Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must be both inclusive and environmentally sound to reduce poverty and build shared prosperity today and for generations to come. The three pillars of sustainable development - economic, environmental, and social - carry across all sectors of development, from cities facing rapid urbanization to agriculture, infrastructure, energy development and use, water availability, and transportation. Being a shared responsibility of the international community, countries should work together to address mounting global challenges - including major infectious diseases, refugee crises, climate change and natural disasters - and provide support to developing countries.
Increasing investment in infrastructure is critical to integrate global economies, which will drive growth and help to achieve the sustainable development goals. The need for infrastructure is enormous and pressing and it will continue to grow. Filling the huge gap in infrastructure financing will require public and private financing as well as technologies and operational efficiencies. Project preparation is also critical to ensure optimal use of resources and technical soundness, as well as compliance to the appropriate social, governance and environmental protection standards. Given the importance of private financing, we welcome the MDBs' Joint Principles and Ambitions on Crowding-In Private Finance endorsed by the G20 at the Hamburg Summit. We support the Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance and Global Infrastructure Facility to play their full role in enhancing infrastructure investment and experience sharing, and in jointly promoting global connectivity and economic integration.
4. Innovation
Innovation, new technologies and the digital transformation are critical new sources of growth. We welcome the continuation of work under the G20, supported by the OECD, that takes forward the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth and seeks to harness the potential of digitalization and innovation for inclusive growth and employment. OECD' s extensive work on analyzing and monitoring innovation policies, as reflected in the G20 Innovation Report 2016, shows that there is scope for countries to strengthen their innovation performance. Our economies and societies today are being reshaped by emerging technologies, especially those forming part of the so-called Next Production Revolution (NPR), which combines digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, bio- and nano-technologies, 3D printing and new materials' development and application as discussed by the OECD in its report, The Next Production Revolution - A Report for G20. The NPR has the potential to transform wide segments of industry and improve overall well-being. However, these benefits go hand-in-hand with potential challenges to existing jobs and skills and the related education and training systems, as the NPR spurs structural changes in the economy. They may also test existing policy approaches to entrepreneurship and business dynamics. To harness the opportunities brought by the NPR, policymakers must support the industrial restructuring process and foster technological progress and competitiveness in industry, but also proactively facilitate social adjustment and ensure inclusion.