Wei Jianguo Meets with Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations

Wei Jianguo Meets with Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations

On April 10, Mr. Wei Jianguo, Vice Chairman of CCIEE, met with Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. Researchers and experts from CCIEE, UNDP, Tsinghua University, Renmin University and Beijing Language and Culture University also attended the meeting. 

          


Mr. Eliasson said that the current political and economic situations are complicated, uncertainties have been increased and risks coexist with opportunities. Issues relating to Religion, tribe and race have made conflicts more complex, internet has changed people’s lifestyle, youth unemployment stay at a high level, and free trade and free flow of labor have enriched globalization. Furthermore, the center of geo-politics and geo-economics is shifting to Asia and emerging economies, sustainable development, immigration and urbanization remain important. The status of female has improved sharply, as an international organization, the United Nations should actively deal with these new trends and changes.    

Mr. Eliasson expressed his viewpoints on a number of issues, including the UN Security Council Reform, world economic trend, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, climate change and youth unemployment. He noted that the UN members and other international organizations should be aware of the urgent needs of emerging countries for reforming the UN. The world’s geo-politics and geo-economics are experiencing unprecedented changes, but it remains unclear whether the UN is able to increase the number of Security Council members and the number of countries that are able to exercise the veto right as such kind of change involves changing the UN charter. The countries that possess the veto right should cherish such a right and make a better use of it because this is important to world peace.

Speaking of world economic trend, he believed that the income gap and unequal distribution of social wealth is not good for social stabilization and thus, narrowing down income gap and change the inequality is essential for social economic development. Apart from that, he reckoned that the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank is advantageous to global economic development, it poses no threat to the current banking and international financial systems, instead, it will be complementary to the existing systems. The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank indicates that the center of the geo-politics and geo-economics is shifting to Asia.

As for climate change, he pointed out that the key is to strengthen propaganda and education so that the public can understand the goal of climate change. In the process of realizing those goals, attentions should be paid to the interconnection between climate change and other aspects and hopefully, a clear resolution can be reached this September. At the end, he proposed that people of the whole society should work together, help young people to explore future possibilities, remain confident and help them to get employment.  

Mr. Wei briefly introduced the recent works conducted by CCIEE, especially the preparation of the Fourth Global Think Tank Summit. He said that CCIEE would like to continue its exchanges and cooperation with the UN to make contribution to global development. He hoped the senior officials of the UN can participate in the Fourth Global Think Tank Summit.