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| Boao Forum for Asia International Conference Center. (PHOTO: XINHUA) |
The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2023 drew about 2,000 delegates from about 40 countries and regions.
All participants agreed that this year's BFA Annual Conference, held from March 28-31, provided important guidance for coping with the uncertainty of today's world, and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind pointed out the right direction for all countries to work together to meet common challenges.
Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of Boao Forum for Asia, called for abandoning confrontation. He said that "Geopolitical confrontation, ideological conflict and geoeconomic fragmentation will only waste precious time and energy. The right way to overcome uncertainty is to unite to meet long-term and common challenges."
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "We welcome China's commitment to continue opening up its economy, and to continue supporting multilateralism and regional cooperation."
Meanwhile Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said no global problem can be solved unilaterally. "Europe and Asia must join forces to tackle global challenges and promote economic development worldwide," he said.
From an African perspective, Prime Minister of Cote d'lvoire Patrick Achi said, "I believe that resolutions reached through cooperation and solidarity between nations are closely linked with the future of Africa and even all humanity."
At the same time, leaders, analysts and experts also expressed confidence in China's economy and its positive role in global growth. The rebound of China's economy is positive for global growth, they said.
"In the first three months of this year, we've seen significant economic growth in China. I think the momentum will continue with the policies that China has in place. We're going to see strong economic growth in the following months to come," said David Olsson, national president of the Australia China Business Council.
According to South China Morning Post, as the world's second largest economy, China's economic recovery and sustained and steady development have become the focus of attention at the forum.
According to Benjamin Simpfendorfer, a partner with American management-consulting firm Oliver Wyman, even with the pandemic and geopolitical entanglements straining China's supply chain, the country is poised to remain a global manufacturing hub for the foreseeable future.
"The country accounts for 80 percent of all smartphone exports. I suppose three years [of pandemic impact] has made it decline slightly, but they aren't possibly back to zero, because no other market has the [same production] scale as China." said Simpfendorfer.