Ernst & Young, a six-year-old "full-time student", talks about CIIE: opening up the main arteries of the global economy and jointly building the green background of the "Belt and Road".
The CIIE originated in China and benefited the world. As the first national-level exhibition with the theme of import, the CIIE has been held for six consecutive years, and the circle of friends has continued to expand, and the spillover effect has continued to appear. The thousand-year-old road is timeless. This year coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the CIIE will jointly write a story of cooperation on connectivity with more efficient resource allocation.
As a "loyal fan" of the CIIE and a "full-time student" of the Expo, EY has locked in the "admission ticket" for the 7th CIIE in advance this year, focusing on important topics such as digital transformation and green and sustainable development, and showcasing EY's innovative practices in the artificial intelligence industry and green and low-carbon industries.
"CIIE is not only a high-quality showcase for the Belt and Road Initiative, enhancing the international visibility of the Belt and Road Initiative and providing breakthrough opportunities for economic, trade and investment cooperation, but also promoting new trade represented by the Internet, big data and cross-border e-commerce through trade form innovation and digital transformation experience, and promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation." Ernst & Young Greater China Managing Partner Bi Shunjie said that EY will continue to use the CIIE as a platform and the Belt and Road Initiative as a link, leverage the advantages of its global network, actively build international consensus on green development, promote green concepts in the planning and implementation of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and empower the development of the Green Silk Road.
The superposition effect of the two platforms is highlighted
This year marks the sixth consecutive year that the CIIE has been held, and it also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has made positive contributions to promoting the healthy development of economic globalization, solving global development problems, and improving the global governance system.
In the context of the continuous surging trend of anti-globalization thought, Bi Shunjie believes that the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is committed to realizing the interconnection and linkage development of the world, further opening up the arteries of economic globalization, and smoothing the flow of information, capital, technology, products and personnel, and has achieved remarkable results.
Specifically, Bi Shunjie said that the "Belt and Road" initiative has planned to promote the construction of transportation, information and other infrastructure and trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, eliminate barriers to cross-border and inter-regional trade and investment cooperation, greatly improve the efficiency of cooperation, and promote the establishment of a new pattern of global trade. According to a report by the World Bank, since the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the cost of global trade can be reduced by 1.8% through infrastructure construction alone.
Bi Shunjie also pointed out that the Belt and Road Initiative practices the core concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and has contributed many innovative and optimized mechanisms to promote the global governance system. For example, he said, for example, actively promoting the construction of new multilateral governance mechanisms such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and accelerating the construction of governance mechanisms in emerging fields such as deep sea, polar regions, cyber and artificial intelligence with partners, forming some universal rules and standards, filling the gaps in the global governance system in these areas.
According to public information, over the past five years, the CIIE has accumulated a cumulative turnover of nearly US$350 billion. More than 1,500 enterprises from the Belt and Road countries have signed contracts for the 6th CIIE, and the total exhibition area has increased by about 30% compared with the previous one. Among the 72 exhibitors at this year's CIIE, there are 64 countries that have been co-built along the Belt and Road. For the least developed countries in the Belt and Road Initiative, the CIIE will also promote the entry of local products into the Chinese market through subsidies and preferential tax policies for the retention and purchase of exhibits.
It should be mentioned that this year's CIIE is the first CIIE after the optimization and adjustment of the new crown epidemic prevention and control policy, and it is also the first CIIE after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially came into effect. In Bi Shunjie's view, under the superposition effect of these two platforms, there will be a different kind of spark of regional economic cooperation.
"In recent years, the enthusiasm of RCEP member countries to participate in the Expo is high, not only enjoying the dividends of tariff reduction, but also further improving the international visibility of high-quality products of RCEP-related countries, reflecting China's super-large-scale market advantages, which is very attractive to RCEP member countries, and is conducive to enhancing the linkage effect of domestic and international markets and resources. Bi Shunjie further said that in addition, China has a well-developed digital economy and innovation ecosystem, and with the blessing of RCEP and China's vigorous promotion of a higher level of opening-up, it will surely attract more foreign enterprises to invest in China.
In the context of rising global trade costs and supply chain bottlenecks, Bi Shunjie believes that with the help of the CIIE exhibition platform, RCEP will further promote the integrated development of trade in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, help promote regional and even world opening and cooperation, and contribute to the development of the world economy.
Build international consensus on green development
In recent years, issues such as climate change and sustainable development have become issues of common concern around the world, and the concept of ESG has received more and more attention from various market players such as governments and regulators. The green of lucid waters and lush mountains has become an important background color for China's high-quality development, and the joint construction of the Green Silk Road has become an important topic for the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road.
However, at present, the construction of the Green Silk Road faces certain environmental protection pressures and technical constraints.
Bi Shunjie bluntly said that most of the "Belt and Road" countries are developing countries, and with the advancement of urbanization and industrialization in the future, carbon emissions will inevitably rise further, but the problem of poverty alleviation is also very urgent, and countries need to balance carbon emissions and economic growth needs as a whole. In addition, some BRI countries have relatively weak technology and capacity, and may need more training and technical support to break through the limitations.
From the perspective of the solution path, Bi Shunjie put forward several suggestions, the first of which is to strengthen cooperation. "In the future, we should actively promote the participation of Belt and Road countries in bilateral and multilateral cooperation, establish policy coordination mechanisms and multilateral cooperation platforms, promote the sharing of information, resources and technology, and continuously unleash the potential of sustainable development. At the same time, we will promote the participation of Belt and Road countries in the formulation and promotion of green standards and certification systems to ensure that they are in line with international standards. Bi Shunjie proposed that financial support and cultivation of green innovative talents can also be fully provided through the establishment of green development funds and linkage of sustainable development education projects.
The second is to use technology to empower green development, and give full play to technology to promote low carbon emissions and accelerate the green transformation of society. Taking China as an example, new progress has been made in the fields of high-performance equipment, new energy vehicles, energy storage technology, and zero-carbon parks, which have reduced industrial energy consumption and carbon emission intensity, improved the resilience of the industrial chain, and become an important driving force for achieving the "double carbon" goal.
At this year's CIIE, EY unveiled its new product "Only This Green - EY ESG Handheld Application Series ---Digital Intelligence", aiming to provide more comprehensive, diversified and convenient ESG management tools for enterprises. This product can help enterprises more easily go through the process of building an ESG architecture system from 0 to 1, and at the same time, it can also open up ESG management to various branches. In the future, EY will continue to focus on sustainable development, explore digital innovation, create digital application tools, establish green and carbon neutrality awareness for the public, and promote enterprises to improve ESG management and seek sustainable development.
"With the continuous acceleration of global digital development, the joint construction of the Digital Silk Road has also become one of the important directions, which not only promotes the upgrading of China's technology and industry, but also promotes the cooperation between China and the 'Belt and Road' countries in the field of high and new technology, helps the local digital capacity building, narrows the digital divide, and provides impetus for the in-depth development of regional economy and trade. Bi Shunjie said.
Bi Shunjie believes that in the future, China will continue to push the "double carbon" to a higher level, focus on strategic emerging industries, accelerate technological breakthroughs in the fields of new energy and new materials, promote the digitalization and greening of production methods and lifestyles, and promote international scientific and technological cooperation from a global perspective, actively integrate into the global green technology innovation network, and enhance the international competitiveness and leadership in this field.
