On June 28 and 29, the G20 summit will be held in Osaka, Japan. Leaders of the G20 member states will come together, hopefully to discuss ways to better cooperate.

In 2008, at the height of the international financial crisis, the G20 saved the world economy from sliding into an abyss. Eleven years later, the world economy is once again at a critical crossroad. The United States administration adheres to the winner-take-all law of the jungle, imposing sanctions on others; launching trade attacks at will, which seriously damage the rule-based free trade order, the global industrial chain and people's confidence in the market. It has also stirred up trouble in many other areas including international cooperation for environmental action, scientific and technological innovation and the fourth industrial revolution.

However, the trend of opening up and integrated development is unstoppable with the deepening of multipolarization, economic globalization and social informatization. Which is why President Xi Jinping has called for the international community to join the Belt and Road Initiative and to build a community with a shared future for mankind, offering Chinese solutions to global problems.

What is achieved at the Osaka summit and what signals it sends will have a big bearing on the direction of the international order and the multilateral trading system. It is hoped the message will be cooperation for peace, development and people's improved well-being.

History has proved time and again that openness leads to progress, while isolation leads to backwardness. The summit should uphold the rules-based global trade order and a multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at the core and pursue a more open, inclusive, beneficial, balanced and win-win world economy.

It is to be hoped that the summit will stand firmly in favor of future-focused and innovation-driven growth. At present, the world is witnessing a shift of economic drivers as a new technological revolution sweeps the world. To jointly cope with the new challenges and opportunities, China launched a G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth (2016) at the G20 summit in Hangzhou. This was backed up by three action plans, namely the Innovation Action Plan, the New Industrial Revolution Action Plan, and the Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative. These plans, all of which the Osaka summit are expected to discuss and adopt, offer a path of innovative growth for all countries.

The summit should also highlight key areas for common and sustainable development. In today's world, the imbalance in development, the gap between the rich and the poor countries, and that between North and South have become even more pronounced. Such as inadequate infrastructure, lack of professional and skilled personnel, and short of financial resources. To tackle them, for the first time, the Hangzhou Summit put development to the fore in the global macroeconomic policy framework, developed an action plan around the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and launched the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa and the least developed countries.

For developing countries, the hope is the Osaka summit will focus on the issues of sustainable development, infrastructure, the digital economy, energy, the environment and climate change, as well as promoting the UN 2030 Agenda and the G20 Initiative. It is also to be hoped the summit connects more with regional development plans in a bid to achieve connected, inclusive and common development between developed and developing countries.

In recent years, China has made positive contributions through mechanisms such as the G20, the Belt and Road Initiative, BRICS cooperation, as well as China-Africa, China-Celac and China-Arab cooperation.

Over the past more than five years, President Xi has paid four state visits to Africa and hosted two summits of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. He has put forward Ten Major Cooperation Plans and Eight Major Initiatives for China and Africa, and actively promoted the connection between the Belt and Road Initiative and Africa's development. In 2018, bilateral trade exceeded $200 billion, up by 20 percent year-on-year. China's cumulative investment in Africa has exceeded $110 billion. According to incomplete statistics, China has provided investment and financing support for Africa to build more than 10,000 kilometers of roads, 6,000 km of railways, over 20 airports and terminals, more than 30 bridges and ports, more than 80 power projects, about 150 stadiums, conference centers and parliament buildings, and more than 200 schools.

"The strong pass of the challenge is like a wall of iron, yet with firm strides, we are conquering its summit." With economic globalization facing headwinds and the developing countries facing demanding development tasks, the Osaka summit needs to show courage, build consensus, speak out as the voice of our time, and ensure the world economy stays on the right track.

The author is Chinese ambassador to South Africa.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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