China-EU Digital Research Center will support this initiative
Introduction by Yu Ping, Vice Chair and Sherpa of B20 China
300 business representatives of the G20 countries met last 17 April at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. This meeting, coinciding with the annual Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, was the first B20 China Joint Taskforce Meeting. ChinaEU is honored to be a member of B20, which stands for the business representation in the G20 meeting preparatory process. The B20 group discusses policy recommendations for the world economic governance that will be submitted to the heads of state of the G20 countries when they meet in in Hangzhou, China, on 4–5 September 2016. Several strategic recommendations are being considered, among which stands the proposal of setting up an Electronic World Trade Platform (e-WTP).
The most notable recommendation discussed in the SME Development Taskforce is the proposal to set up an eWTP.
Jack Ma at Boao Forum in March 2016 (Source: XinHua News Agency)
The idea of an eWTP (Electronic World Trade Platform) was originally launched by Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group and also Chair of the SME Development Taskforce, at Boao Forum (to read Ma Yun’s full speech in Chinese, please click here) in March this year. The platform will facilitate SMEs’ development and integrate public-private dialogue on e-commerce trading modes.
The key goal of eWTP is to promote ‘inclusive’ trade. Inclusive trade refers to reducing the threshold effect, faced by SMEs to participate in cross-border e-trade. The WTP will provide SMEs a transparent and open platform to sell their goods and services globally.
Keynote speech by Zhu Min, Deputy Director of IMF
The Washington B20 session opened with a positive note from the IMF, who showed strong confidence in China’s economic growth. Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min admitted that the world economy is facing downgrade with a growth rate at 3.2%, a decrease of two percentage points compared to the IMF’s previous forecast. Government debt has especially become a serious issue, increasing by 42% in two years to reach 106%. Despite the global economic challenges, China’s growth rate was instead upgraded from 6.3% to 6.5%, showing signs of stabilization and recovery, according to both Zhu and Ma Jun, Chief Economist of People’s Bank of China.
Keynote speech by Ma Jun, Chief Economist of the People’s Bank of China
Business leaders and economists commented on the role of B20 and G20 in restructuring the global economy. A few words were spent also on the leadership of China, which this September will chair the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, headquarters of e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Frank Ning, Chair of Trade & Investment Taskforce and Chairman of Sinochem, proposed that G20 can play a bigger role in rebalancing world economy by bringing more real exchange of goods, accelerating technology and innovation, as well as giving more value to manufacturers, instead of focusing too much on finance.
Dimitris Tsitsigaros, Vice President of IFC, Global Client Services believed that G20 should also play a role in promoting regional integration, reducing protectionism, improving access to global value chain and upgrading the global financial infrastructure.
As Ren Hongbin, Chair of Infrastructure Taskforce and Chairman of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, pointed out that, to mitigate current economic challenges, reform in infrastructure is key, which is also one of the few areas identified by IMF reports as having potential to deliver strong productive gains across all kinds of countries.
Green investment and financial inclusion involving private sector players were among the hottest issues discussed.
China is believed to make a successful leader of B20 as well as G20 to deliver favorable results in addressing global challenges, given its infrastructure-oriented One Belt One Road Initiative and the profound structural reform undergoing in the country.
The B20 has set up five taskforces, namely Financing Growth, Trade & Investment, Infrastructure, SME Development and Employment, to brainstorm on the most appropriate policy recommendations to make to the G20 government leaders. The taskforces met close-door to agree on the scope and drafting of these key business recommendations.
The most notable recommendation discussed in the SME Development Taskforce is the proposal to set up an eWTP.
Jack Ma at Boao Forum in March 2016 (Source: XinHua News Agency)
The idea of an eWTP (Electronic World Trade Platform) was originally launched by Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group and also Chair of the SME Development Taskforce, at Boao Forum (to read Ma Yun’s full speech in Chinese, please click here) in March this year. The platform will facilitate SMEs’ development and integrate public-private dialogue on e-commerce trading modes.
The key goal of eWTP is to promote ‘inclusive’ trade. Inclusive trade refers to reducing the threshold effect, faced by SMEs to participate in cross-border e-trade. The WTP will provide SMEs a transparent and open platform to sell their goods and services globally.
