High-level forum discusses COVID-19 impact
The High-Level Dialogue focused on stabilizing global industrial and supply chains and embracing future globalization.
With preparations for the third China International Import Expo and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum well underway, a High-Level Dialogue of the Hongqiao Economic Forum was held on Wednesday to promote the event in November.
The meeting focused on stabilizing global industrial and supply chains and embracing future globalization, with the theme of "In Joint Response to Challenges with Openness and Cooperation: Stabilizing Global Industrial and Supply Chains and Embracing the Future Globalization in the Context of COVID-19."
At the meeting, Wang Bingnan, China’s vice minister of commerce, confirmed that the third CIIE will be held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) from November 5 to 10.
"We will attach importance to better organizing the expo and the Hongqiao forum, giving full play to its role as the "four major platforms" for international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchanges, and opening and cooperation, so as to jointly maintain the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain," Wang said.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former prime minister of France, said that it was essential to hold the dialogue especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cooperation has always been the theme in relations between China and France, he said. Last year, their heads of state exchanged visits, further deepening communication and cooperation between the two countries. Under the current circumstances, all countries should step up cooperation, and uphold multilateralism and mutual understanding, to make joint efforts to fight against challenges, Raffarin said.
Issues discussed during the dialogue included the evaluation and prospect of the impact of COVID-19 on industrial chains and global businesses; coping strategies and specific measurements from a commercial perspective; the role of government in stabilizing global supply chains; and possible realistic paths of economic globalization in the future and potential directions of international economic and trade rules.
The panelists generally agreed that under the current situation the uncertainties of global economic and trade development and the instability of global industrial and supply chains had increased significantly, which required the joint efforts of all countries. Greater openness and better cooperation will stabilize global industrial and supply chains and accelerate the resumption of world economic growth.
"The globalization of supply chains originates from the pursuit of production efficiency and growth," said Qiao Jian, senior vice president and chief strategy officer and chief marketing officer of Lenovo Group.
Qiao believed that "the global division of labor brings about the reduction of cost and creates the competitive advantage for enterprises. It is almost impossible for supply chains to regress from globalization to localization."
He Yaqiong, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Operation Monitoring and Coordination under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said: ”The epidemic situation objectively contains the important opportunities that can be grasped, such as expanding the international market, promoting transformation and upgrading, and redistributing global resources."
"For the next step, we will continue to increase efforts to ensure the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, strengthening cooperation at home and abroad, promoting reform and innovation to reduce enterprise costs, as well as unleashing consumption potential and implementing the strategy of boosting domestic demand," He said.
