Foreign news
Xi: China Firmly Supports Global Economic Recovery, Free Trade
China will continue to implement a win-win strategy of opening-up, said Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Davos Agenda 2021 of the World Economic Forum on Monday. He stated that economic globalization meets the need of growing social productivity and is a natural outcome of scientific and technological advancement.
“It serves no one’s interest to use the pandemic as an excuse to reverse globalization and go for seclusion and decoupling,” he said in a video speech.
Xi reiterated China’s commitment to opening-up, adding that the country will foster a business environment that is governed by law and up to international standards.
He said China would also work toward realizing the potential of its enormous consumer market.
China has made continuous efforts to further open up its market, including further reducing the number of sectors and industries that were off-limits to both Chinese and overseas investors at the end of 2020.
Call for policy coordination
Noting the world is going through the worst recession since the end of the Second World War, Xi called for coordination in global macroeconomic policies in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth of the post-pandemic global economy.
“We need to shift the driving forces and growth models of the global economy and improve its structure to set the course for long-term, sound and steady development of the world economy,” said Xi.
China has been the only major economy to achieve economic growth last year amid the grave and complex environment posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world’s second-largest economy brought its economic growth back to a pre-pandemic rate of 2.3 percent in 2020, while many economies remain mired in recession.
The World Bank estimated an uptick of 7.9 percent of China’s real GDP in 2021, compared with 3.5 percent in the U.S.
The global economy is on track to grow by 4 percent in 2021, assuming vaccination for COVID-19 becomes widespread throughout the year, according to the World Bank.
Foreign news
EU Cautiously optimistic on Syria engagement – Official
Irish foreign minister Simon Harris said on Monday that the European Union (EU) “is cautiously optimistic on Syria engagement” but called for more deeper engagement to strengthen relations with the country.
Harris said this at a news conference held at the EU Headquarters in Brussels, the Belgian capital.
“It’s early days, but I think there are signs of optimism. But it is important that we continue to engage.
“I don’t think it would be a good scenario if any other geopolitical actors and forces engage with Syria and for the European Union not to be in a position to intensively engage with them,“ he said.
In her remarks, Ms. Kaja Kallas, the Vice-President of the EU described Syria’s future as fragile but said that the bloc needed to take the right steps.
“But of course, we need to see the right steps as well. Right now, they’re saying all the right words, and they are doing also the right things.
“Therefore, we have this set step-for-step approach, and if they take the steps, then we are willing to take the steps as well,’’ she said.
On the war in Gaza, Harris said President Donald Trump and his team are very much a party to the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after the intensive work that was put in.
He conceded that the Trump administration put in a lot of effort to arrive at a ceasefire agreement in the days before his assumption of office for a return to the White House.
“I think that was important and there is no doubt that the intensive work invested by the Trump administration played a very significant role in helping to bring about a ceasefire – a ceasefire that has now seen a cessation of hostilities, the killing, and the bombings.
“Also, that has seen the flow and has seen hostages being released. It’s really important that the ceasefire is in place.
“It is also important, though, to acknowledge in that ceasefire agreement itself, it does talk about people being able to return, and therefore, I think it’s important that we’re consistent in the approach that we take.
“The priority, I think, needs to be on implementing to the letter, the ceasefire agreement.”
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