This video grab taken on January 25, 2021, from the website of the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab (L) speaking after China's President Xi Jinping (R) opened from Pekin an all-virtual World Economic Forum, which usually takes place in Davos, Switzerland.-/AFP/Getty Images
China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called on the world to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and bolster the role of the G20 in global economic governance as he pointed to a “rather shaky” recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum - a gathering usually held in a Swiss ski resort - Xi said the global economic outlook remained uncertain and public health emergencies “may very well recur” in future.
Xi, making his first appearance at the forum since his vigorous defense of free trade and globalization in an address in Davos in 2017, struck a similar tone this time around, advocating multilateralism as the way out of current challenges in a roughly 25-minute speech.
“We should build an open world economy ... discard discriminatory and exclusionary standards, rules and systems, and take down barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges,” he said.
The G20 - an international forum grouping 19 of the biggest developed and emerging economies, plus the European Union - should be strengthened as the “main forum for global economic governance” and the world should “engage in closer macro-economic policy coordination,” Xi added.
The international community should be governed in accordance with rules and consensus reached by all countries, instead of by one or several issuing orders, he said, without naming the countries.
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