— Address by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China To the Ninth Leaders' Summit of the Group of Twenty (G20)

(Brisbane, Australia, November 15, 2014)

The G20 is a major forum for international economic cooperation, and shoulders the important mission of promoting world economic stability and growth. Over the past few years, the world economy has gradually climbed out of the trough and constantly developed in a good direction. However, we should accept that the economic recovery to date has not been robust; risks remain in the financial market; and international trade is still staggering at a low level. International organizations predicted this year's world economic growth rate to be 3.3 percent and international trade growth to be 3.1 percent, both of which are lower than those before the international financial crisis.

A Chinese proverb says, "A boat sailing against the current must forge ahead or it will be driven back." Our first and foremost task at present is to coordinate macroeconomic policies, overcome development difficulties together, decrease economic risks and realize economic prosperity, financial stability, trade development, as well as improvement in employment and people's livelihood.

Not long ago, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) made plans for promoting growth of the Asia-Pacific region. I am glad to see that the G20 has also been making efforts and formulated a comprehensive growth strategy, setting the target to lift the collective GDP by more than 2 percent above the trajectory implied by current policies over the coming five years. This is of great significance.

To implement this comprehensive growth strategy, it is important to explore and cultivate an impetus for sustained growth to form a new situation featuring development innovation, convergence of interests and overall growth.

Therefore, I suggest that the G20 make efforts in the following aspects:

First, we must innovate development patterns. During the international financial crisis, a counter-cyclical stimulus to iron out economic fluctuations may yield obvious short-term effects, but it is largely a temporary solution rather than a permanent cure.

All countries should innovate the development concept, policy and patterns; pay more attention to growth quality and benefits, especially through structural reforms in such fields as fiscal taxation, finance, investment, competition, trade and employment as well as through the combination of macroeconomic policies and social policies, so as to stimulate vitality in creating wealth, bring the market force into full play and push forward the transformation of the world economy from cyclical recovery to sustainable growth.

We should attach importance to the pulling effect of infrastructure construction on the economy. While hosting the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, China set connectivity as one of the core topics, so as to create new growth points. China supports the G20 in establishing a global infrastructure center, supports the World Bank in establishing a global infrastructure fund, and will make contributions to global infrastructure investment through such approaches as the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Silk Road Fund.

Second, we must construct an open world economy. The expansion of world trade will benefit all countries, and the shrinkage of the world market will not do any good to any country. We should continue to be the flag-bearers for international free trade, safeguard the multilateral trade system, build a mutually beneficial and win-win global value chain, cultivate a big global market, oppose trade and investment protectionism and promote the Doha Round Negotiations. We should push forward open, inclusive, transparent and non-discriminatory free trade agreements, so as to avoid a split of the global market and trade system.

Third, we must improve global economic governance. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference. All parties are utilizing experiences from the Bretton Woods System in order to further improve global economic governance. All countries should take this opportunity to build a fair, just, inclusive and orderly international financial system, enhance the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries, and make sure that every country enjoys equal rights and equal opportunities under equal rules in international economic cooperation.

We must speed up the implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s reform plan, and strengthen the global financial safety net. BRICS countries announced the formation of a development bank and an emergency reserve, and more than 20 Asian countries initiated the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These are a useful complement to the international financial system.

China's economic growth is an important impetus for the world economic growth. According to the estimate made by international organizations, China is one of the largest contributors to the overall growth strategy of the G20. Such contribution comes from China's policies and measures to maintain steady growth, adjust the structure, promote reforms and benefit the people's livelihood. The growth strategy that China submitted to the G20 includes 134 such policy measures, demonstrating China's determination, belief and actions in driving growth through innovation.

China's economy will maintain strong, sustainable and balanced growth momentum, with an annual increase equivalent to the economic scale of a moderately developed country. In the coming five years, we will import commodities worth more than $10 trillion, and make outbound investment surpassing $500 billion. These will create greater demand, market opportunities, investment opportunities and growth opportunities for the world economy. As the would-be host of the G20 Summit in 2016, China would like to make greater contributions to and play a greater role in spurring world economic growth.

I would like to avail this opportunity to announce that China will adopt the Special Data Dissemination Standards of the IMF.

An old Chinese saying goes, "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." In face of various international economic risks and challenges, the G20 members should establish the awareness of a community of interests as well as a community of destiny, and be good friends and partners. Members should actively adjust macroeconomic policies, and strive to form a pattern of win-win cooperation in which the growth of each country promotes and complements that of other countries, so that the G20 truly becomes the stabilizer of the world economy, the incubator of global growth, and the propeller of the global economic governance, and bring more benefits to people of all countries.