Xi offers wisdom on globalization: Former World Bank chief economist

DAVOS - A former World Bank chief economist said Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered wisdom and insight on economic globalization in his speech at an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

"It is a very important speech at a very critical moment," Justin Yifu Lin, former chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank, said in an interview with Xinhua.

"I think it is very crucial that President Xi clarified the concept to the world, to continue to promote globalization, to promote global development, and to push forward the global agreements that have been reached in the past, such as the Paris climate agreement," Lin said.

At the opening plenary of the WEF's 2017 annual meeting held Tuesday here, Xi called for joint efforts to chart the course of economic globalization and forge new models of global growth, cooperation, governance and development.

The Chinese leader said many of the problems troubling the world are not caused by economic globalization. Just blaming economic globalization for the world's problems is inconsistent with reality and will not help solve the problems, Xi said.

"The Chinese people have a saying that to suit the remedy to the case," Lin said, adding that the current problems facing the world include a slowdown in global economic growth, the international governance that fails to reflect developing countries' contribution and social inequality that is arising in some developed countries.

"The cause is not stemmed from globalization," Lin said, urging the world to focus on how to realize the rapid development of global economy.

In his speech, Xi called on all countries to follow the general trend, proceed from their respective national conditions, and embark on the right pathway of integrating into economic globalization with the right pace.