Spotlight: New vision for financial connectivity in Asia-Europe cooperation

Following the recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Britain's global financial center is soon to see another prominent gathering of participants from Asia and Europe.

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) financial cooperation conference will be held in London on Nov. 8-10. It will be the first international forum on financial cooperation between Asia and Europe following Xi's visit.

The forum is expected to scale up the successful China-Britain cooperation in finance and lay out a new vision for financial connectivity between Asia and Europe.

The conference, which is to focus on financial cooperation between Asia and Europe, will cover discussions of world economy, global financial governance reform, the Belt and Road Initiatives, financial and capital market connectivity, and so on.

WORLD ECONOMY

The first session of the conference in London will focus on the world economy, including how advanced economies can reverse their economic stagnation and how to put China's new normal into perspective.

The session will also explore new sources of the world economic growth as well as reform agendas in major economies.

Global financial governance reform is another important issue of the forum.

Since the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis, the Group of 20(G20) has been playing a pivotal role in coordinating macro policies among major economies and tackling the crisis.

One important dimension of the conference is to explore what new missions the G20 should carry out to become more dynamic.

The participants will explore what roles the G20 can play in areas such as financial reform, regulation, monetary policy coordination and global financial stability, and offer specific recommendations for the 2016 G20 Beijing Summit.

Besides, reform of the international monetary system will also be a focus of this conference.

Experts will also exchange opinions on how to prevent the U.S. dollar from becoming an issue of others and whether diversification can address the Triffin paradox in the international monetary system.

BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVES

In recent years, global trade growth has decelerated distinctly. Some believed the China-led Belt and Road Initiatives and cooperation in production capacity represents a new way for advancing globalization.

Participants will elaborate on this initiative and share observations on production capacity cooperation between Asia and Europe.

The Belt and Road Initiatives are a cross-continental endeavor that connects East Asia, the highest-growth economic hub, and Europe, an advanced and mature market.

There is a vast land endowed with abundant resources and massive economic potential, but with poor infrastructure, little access to capital, and low production capacity.

For countries in between, it will be a win-win strategy and a path towards common development and prosperity if they are provided, through consultation, joint development and sharing, with access to funding and infrastructure development and production capacity.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a new and important multilateral financial institution in infrastructure.

Jin Liqun, president-designate of the AIIB, will explore how the bank will operate and how it will complement existing counterparts such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank.

FINANCIAL CONNECTIVITY

As the foremost topic of the conference, financial connectivity is an important pillar for Asia-Europe economic cooperation.

Breakthroughs and results achieved between China and Britain in this area have provided inspiration and fresh food for thought.

Experts will discuss financial regulation, mutual capital market access and the establishment of financial institutions in both countries.

The key to financial connectivity is the mutual opening of financial and capital markets, including accelerating local currency settlement for infrastructure development, strengthening bilateral or multilateral currency swaps, and prudently widening the scope for such swaps.

It also included increasing support to each other in such areas as overseas mergers and acquisition, overseas market development, technology upgrades, resource and energy acquisition and intellectual property rights, and expanding investments in each other's assets with foreign exchange reserves.

BFA FINANCIAL EXPERT COMMITTEE

According to the secretariat of the forum, the BFA will launch the Expert Committee of Financial Cooperation during the conference in London, following the BFA Expert Committee of Energy, Resources and Sustainable Development announced in Malaysia in June.

The two committees are two important think tanks for the BFA in the domains of energy, resource and finance.

Their tasks are to analyze industry trends, identify issues and challenges, propose forward-looking but practical initiatives and solutions, which will be translated into policies and actions by building consensus through annual meetings, topical meetings and reports. Endi