Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte noted the global shift of economic weight and might to Asia while it continues its comparatively robust growth in the next decade. “Every Asian country, big or small, has a role to play” for prosperity and peace, he told the forum.

The economies will encounter challenges ahead. “But we will not be deterred. We seek to partner with responsible businesses — homegrown and foreign-based — to drive the progress we envision,” Duterte said in his speech at the opening of the forum.

Duterte said the Philippines remains committed to interconnectivity, innovation and investment.

“We will continue our efforts to broaden and deepen our economic engagement and cooperation with our friends and neighbors. We must harness the potential for shared growth in our region and beyond,” he said.

“As sovereign equals, the Philippines and China are partners in the building of much-needed infrastructure,” he stressed. “[We are building] bridges of greater understanding between our people. We are working together on strengthening economic complementarities.”

“Let me say it again today: The Philippines’ destiny is in Asia. The Philippines is ready to work with all nations in the region who seek friendship and cooperation,” he said. 

Duterte said the Philippines has dreamed of a comfortable life for its citizens, envisioning a society with opportunities for all and a nation of hard-working, talented, and law-abiding people. “We are slowly making the Filipino dream a reality.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is concerned that the trading regime underpinned by the World Trade Organization (WTO) is “eroding”.

“As nations look inward and turn their backs on globalization, we in Asia confront a strategic choice: Whether to follow suit, or to script an alternative, more hopeful vision for our future,” he told the forum.

“Our coordinated and tailored approaches must incorporate the enterprising spirit of our people and their common aspirations for a better life. They must include embracing structural reform, strengthening regional institutions, increasing connectivity, leveraging technology and investing in human capital.”

Abbasi said that today China is a global leader in addressing climate change and in promoting global trade, equitable development and a sustainable world.

“I firmly believe that development and security remain intrinsically indivisible,” he said. 

“Only by spreading the dividends of open trade and shared innovation will we be able to promote tolerance and amity and deny space to extremism. The China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral framework is aimed at achieving these very objectives.”

President Xi’s historic Belt and Road Initiative has become a global public good, beneficial to all, for shared prosperity and bringing equality to an unequal world, Abbasi said.

“In Pakistan today, step by step, brick by brick, a brave new Asia is taking shape. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project [of the Belt and Road Initiative], is fast reaching fruition. It is an excellent example of an open, coordinated and inclusive development paradigm that benefits all stakeholders,” he said.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his address at the Boao Forum opening ceremony that the multilateral WTO system must be the basis for global trade.

“Since China joined the WTO in 2001, its weight in the global economy and its share of world trade has grown enormously and this has greatly benefited China itself and many other countries of the world, including Singapore,” he said.

Lee emphasized concerns over the impact of high tariffs for countries big and small.

“Singapore does not believe that imposing unilateral tariffs is the correct solution” as they are not compliant with the WTO’s rules.

There will always be competition between major powers, but it makes all the difference whether competition occurs within a framework of interdependence and generally accepted rules of the game, Lee said.

More fundamentally, as economists point out, the focus on the bilateral trade imbalance between the US and China is misplaced, he said. 

“What matters to a country is not its bilateral trade balance with a specific trading partner, but its overall trade balance with the rest of the world. Furthermore, the cause of a trade deficit is an imbalance in the domestic economy, in particular when a country consumes more than it produces.”

Lee also said that China has responded to the United States’ trade salvos accordingly and is “careful and calibrated”.

“Nevertheless, there is now a serious dispute. Everyone still hopes that before these tariffs are implemented, the two countries will be able to work out an accommodation and head off further escalation,” he added.

Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh said at the forum that openness and connectivity are conducive to healthy economic development.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that globalization has brought benefits, but the goal should be “fair globalization that leaves no one behind”.

“One thing must be very clear: We won’t make globalization fair by isolationism, protectionism or exclusion,” he told the forum. “Global problems need global multiple solutions.” 

Multilateral connectivity and cooperation should be emphasized so as to achieve peace, dignity and prosperity for all mankind.

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, also identified the importance of Asia to global growth, and she emphasized economic openness.

Others who spoke at the April 10 opening of the Boao Forum included Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, vice-chairman and CEO of Saudi Arabian petrochemicals giant SABIC. Yasuo Fukuda, chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, addressed the start of the session.

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