Countries must work together to overcome global challenges

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the opening ceremony. [Photo by Liu Hongjie/chinadaily.com.cn]

Wang Shouwen, Vice-Minister of Commerce, said that countries should work together to overcome global challenges and chart the course for future development. He was speaking at the sideline general debate of the 14th conference of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14) in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 18.

The head of the Chinese delegation said that the world economy is still struggling, with sluggish growth in international trade and uncertain prospect of global FDI flows.

Amid the lingering unbalanced development between North and South, poverty eradication remains the top priority for developing countries, he said.

"To eradicate extreme poverty, there is no fundamental solution other than the pursuit of development," said the vice-minister, adding that the theme of the 14th conference of UNCTAD, "From Decision to action: Moving toward an inclusive and equitable global economic environment for trade and development" is highly relevant.

Wang urged countries to take actions to ensure equitable development for all.

"Countries are at different stage of economic development, thus they may differ in their capacity for development and the level or progress they can make towards their development goals," he said.

Therefore, in pursuance of shared objectives, different countries should bear common but differentiated responsibilities.

All members of international community should assist developing countries in strengthening their capacity-building for development. It is of crucial importance to improve global economic and financial governance and increase the representation and voice of developing countries, and give all counties equal rights to participate in international rule-making, Wang said.

He also urged countries to take actions to ensure open development to deliver benefits to all.

"Practices and experiences over the past decade across the globe reveal that fast growth often emerges from countries with an open economy," Wang said. "Countries should keep pace with the trend of times, oppose all forms of protectionism, uphold a free, open and non-discriminative multilateral trading system, explore ways and means to improve global investment rules, build an open world economy and come to share the development benefits through mutual consultation and joint collaboration."

Moreover, he urged countries to take actions to ensure common development for all countries.