This year, the G20 will advance cooperation initiatives on supporting industrialization in African countries and the Least Developed Countries to help speed up industrialization in these countries and attain the poverty reduction and sustainable development goals.
The G20 will also place high importance on climate change this year. It has already released its first ever Presidency Statement on Climate Change, committing members to sign the Paris Agreement, which opened for signature on April 22 and remains open for signature one year thereafter, and bringing it into force as soon as possible. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon responded with a special statement, in which he welcomed the responsible position of the G20 and extended his thanks to China for its leadership.
In addition, the G20 will discuss agriculture, employment, inclusive business and other wide-ranging issues; shed light on issues related to women, youth, and small farmers; promote agricultural innovation and sustainable development; explore the relationship between macro-policy regulation and job creation; and encourage employment through entrepreneurship and innovation.
It should be made clear that the G20 stresses a broader concept of development. While making feasible action plans to tackle development issues based on member's own comparative advantages and added value, it also calls for an economic perspective and explores the relationship between growth and development in multiple dimensions. The Hangzhou Summit will not only focus on development itself, but also embrace development as a source of economic growth, and this is a main thread running through the G20 agenda.
A development perspective is taken in all the key agenda items of the G20 this year, including macro-economic policy, international trade and investment, innovation in growth models and global economic governance.
Under the agenda item of "breaking a new path for growth", the G20 will focus discussions on innovation, the new industrial revolution, the digital economy and structural reform. This aims to break the current model of sole reliance on fiscal stimulus and easy monetary policy through innovation-driven growth strategies and structural reform, and boost the potential for mid- to long-term growth.
China is working with fellow members to draw a blueprint for innovation-driven growth that highlights the concept of inclusive innovation, does more to help developing countries raise their R&D capacity, narrows the gap and bridges the digital divide between developed and developing countries in terms of industrialization, and lowers the threshold for developing countries to integrate into the new economy and helps them share the benefits.
Global governance
Under the agenda item of "more effective and efficient global economic and financial governance", the G20 aims to advance reform in global economic governance and increase the representation and voice of developing countries and emerging markets.
This year, China has relaunched the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group to promote reforms of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and have in-depth discussions on such issues as sovereign debt restructuring and a global financial safety net.
