Pedestrians cross a busy intersection in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on Jan 4, 2022. (PETER PARKS / AFP)
Leaders across the globe need to foster a more constructive cross-border dialogue and collaboration to tackle climate change, geopolitical tensions and other common challenges in the post-COVID era, according to experts from the Chinese mainland and overseas who attended a webinar on Tuesday.
The virtual conference, hosted by a Hong Kong-based think tank Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT), was themed "Investing in Stability and Prosperity: the New Multilateralism for Development". The event was the final conference in a webinar series titled “Join the Conversation: China in the 21st Century”, supported by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Chandran Nair, GIFT's founder and CEO, said in his opening remarks that as the world's population has surpassed 8 billion, issues like food security and climate change should be the top priorities in the post-COVID world
Chandran Nair, GIFT's founder and CEO, said in his opening remarks that as the world's population has surpassed 8 billion, issues like food security and climate change should be the top priorities in the post-COVID world.
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Keynote speaker Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian minister of climate and the environment and former Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme, said he hopes the global community can jointly foster robust mechanisms to settle international conflicts, while showing tolerance and respect for different religions, cultures and values.
Panelists from the mainland, US, Nigeria and other regions exchanged views during the event's two panel sessions.
Founder and President of Center for China and Globalization (CCG) Henry Wang Huiyao suggested that, rather than forming security alliances, countries should build more economic alliances, like the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to foster closer cooperation in infrastructure, outer space development and other common global issues.
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The first and second virtual conferences of the webinar series were held on Aug 25 and Oct 13, at which the future of the HKSAR and finding common values in the new world order were discussed.