Xi proposes innovation, open economy for boosting global growth

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the first session of the 10th summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) major economies in Antalya, Turkey, Nov 15, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

ANTALYA, Turkey -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday proposed strengthened coordination on macroeconomic policy, innovation-driven development and an open world economy as prescriptions for boosting global growth.

In a speech delivered at the first session of a Group of 20 (G20) summit, Xi said the G20 should work to maintain a stable economic growth in the short term, while seeking to inject new impetus into the world economy in the long run.

This year's G20 summit, the 10th of its kind since 2008, comes as the world economy is still being held back by slow and uneven recovery and shortfalls in demand, investment and infrastructure.

Themed with "collective action for inclusive and robust growth," the summit, held in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, is expected to enhance global confidence and ensure strong, sustainable and balanced growth for the world economy.

"The current crisis is far more complex than any of the previous crises, and it can not be fixed overnight," said Xi, noting that a multi-pronged approach is required to overcome the crisis.

The Chinese president said every country should take measures to manage their domestic economic situation well, and join hands to face challenges.

To achieve that goal, Xi raised four proposals, including strengthening communication and coordination on macroeconomic policies; promoting reform and innovation to enhance growth potential; building an open world economy to bring out vigor in international trade and investment; and implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to inject strong impetus into equitable and inclusive development.

Xi said China, as the world's second largest economy, has the confidence and ability to sustain a medium-high growth rate and continue to create development opportunities for other countries.

The Chinese economy is predicted to grow about 7 percent this year, which will continue to contribute as high as about one third to the global growth, he said.

China shouldered the responsibility of driving economic growth in times of the world economic hardship, he said, noting that China had contributed up to 50 percent of world economic growth from 2009 to 2011.

Despite a recent slowdown, China still contributes 30 percent to world economic growth, which means that China still acts as a major world economic powerhouse, said Xi.

China's confidence comes from its determination and actions to comprehensively deepen reform and build an open economic system, as well as the strong endogenous dynamic of China's economy and the policy guidance of the Chinese government, he added.

China has adopted a proposal on formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on national economic and social development, which aims to build a "moderately prosperous society" and double its 2010 GDP and per capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020, said Xi.

In the next five years, China will adhere to a path of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, and will encourage a system that nurtures innovation, he said.

The country will try to realize the synchronous development of the new type of industrialization, IT application, urbanization and agricultural modernization, he added.

In the coming years, China will highlight green and low-carbon development, improve its environmental quality, become heavily involved in global economy, and carry out the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

The world's second largest economy will continue to vigorously improve its people's well-being and ensure that the benefits of development are shared by all, said Xi.

All these efforts will inject strong impetus into China's economic growth while unleashing demand for the world economy, he said.

Xi also expressed appreciation for International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff experts' analysis and suggestions, saying the inclusion of the Chinese currency yuan, or renminbi (RMB), into the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket will help increase the representation and attraction of the SDR, improve the international monetary system, and safeguard global financial stability.

In a report to the IMF Executive Board, the staff experts assessed that the RMB meets the requirements to be a "freely usable" currency and, accordingly, they proposed that the Executive Board determine the RMB to be freely usable and include it in the SDR basket as the fifth currency.

China hopes that a positive outcome will come out of the Executive Board's discussion at the end of November, said the president.

At the first session of the summit, leaders from the G20 members called for strengthened coordination on macroeconomic policy to tackle the sluggish economic growth.

They agreed to address the issue of imbalanced development, improve the social security system, and increase the purchasing power of the low- and middle-income population.

They urged enhanced international financial supervision and accelerated reform of international financial institutions.

The leaders encouraged the integration of developing countries into the global economic governance, agreeing to explore the potential of African nations and beef up cooperation in infrastructure construction.

They called on all G20 members to draw up a reasonable, balanced and sustainable plan to jointly cope with climate change through negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

They also called for solidarity and cooperation among G20 members to jointly fight terrorism.

At the beginning of the meeting, the leaders stood in silent tribute to the victims of Friday night's terrorist attacks in Paris.

The G20, a main forum for global economic and financial cooperation, accounts for around 85 percent of global GDP, 80 percent of world trade, and two-thirds of the human population.