HOT TOPIC IN SNOW-CAPPED DAVOS

 

Liu He, China's top representative at WEF annual meeting this year, called on the international community to push for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced, equitable and beneficial in his speech on Wednesday, echoing Xi's remarks last year.

 

"We should follow the general trend, proceed from our respective national conditions and embark on the right pathway of integrating into economic globalization with the right pace," Xi said in his Davos speech.

 

China will further integrate with international trade rules and increase market access. It will substantially open up the services and financial sectors and create a more attractive investment environment, Liu said.

 

"China will keep its door wide open and not close it," Xi told participants in last year's meeting.

 

Xi's speech is of historical significance, said WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, who had said the speech was "very important" and "brought us some sunshine."

 

The year of 2018 should be the year of international collaboration and multilateralism, and let nationalists and protectionists be a "passing phase", the Swiss president Alain Berset said.

 

"Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room," Xi said last year, urging the world to share opportunities in an open global economy.

 

This year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that protectionism was resulting in new trade barriers and reduced investment across borders.

 

Schwab also said that "Our world has become fractured by increasing competition between nations and deep divides within societies. Yet the sheer scale of the challenges our world faces makes concerted, collaborative and integrated action more essential than ever."