finXi urges G20 inclusiveness, solidarity amid COVID-19 at Rome summit
-- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday addressed the Group of 20 (G20) leaders' summit via video link, calling on its members to shoulder due responsibilities and uphold openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation for forging a community with a shared future for mankind.
-- "Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons," Xi said, urging the G20 to play a leading role in building consensus, mobilizing resources, and promoting cooperation.
-- "Developed countries need to lead by example on emissions reduction, fully accommodate the special difficulties and concerns of developing countries, and deliver on their commitments of climate financing," Xi added.
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Photo taken on Oct. 30, 2021 shows a view of the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders' Summit held in Rome, Italy. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)
BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday addressed the Group of 20 (G20) leaders' summit via video link, calling on its members to shoulder due responsibilities and uphold openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation for forging a community with a shared future for mankind.
"Let us work together to dispel the dark clouds of the pandemic at an early date and jointly build an ever better future for all of us," said Xi.
The summit, with the theme of "People, Planet, Prosperity," is being held online and offline from Saturday to Sunday by Italy, which holds the rotating G20 presidency.
STRENGTHENING ANTI-PANDEMIC COOPERATION
"Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons," Xi said, urging the G20 to play a leading role in building consensus, mobilizing resources, and promoting cooperation.
Created in 1999, the G20 comprising 19 countries plus the European Union, is a main forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues. The group accounts for 86 percent of the global GDP and two-thirds of the world population. "International expectation is mounting for the G20 to rally more consensus to counter increasingly urgent global challenges," said Liu Zhaoyi, a research fellow at Rhodes University, South Africa.
To actively promote COVID-19 vaccines -- powerful weapons to defeat the virus -- as global public goods, China so far has provided over 1.6 billion doses of vaccines for more than 100 countries and international organizations, and is conducting joint vaccine production with 16 countries, with an initial capacity of 700 million doses per year, as put by Xi.
Proposing a Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative, Xi urged the provision of more vaccines to developing countries to meet the global vaccination target for 2022 as set by the World Health Organization (WHO), encouraging vaccine companies to transfer technology to developing countries, advancing mutual recognition of vaccines in accordance with the WHO's Emergency Use Listing, and providing financial support for global vaccine cooperation.
As developing countries have been hit extraordinarily hard by COVID-19, China has identified the weakest link in the global pandemic response and echoed the latest pledges by G20 members to advance the vaccination drive, said Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies. "This demonstrates China's resolve to join hands with the world in weathering difficulties as a major player within G20 and beyond."
"China is ready to work with all parties to enhance vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries and make a positive contribution to building a global line of defense through vaccination," vowed Xi.
ENHANCING COORDINATION ON INCLUSIVE RECOVERY
Noting COVID-19 has made a complex and far-reaching impact on the world economy, Xi called for strengthening coordination to promote recovery, urging major economies to adopt responsible macroeconomic policies and the improvement of the global economic governance system and rules.
