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Reviewing past progress helps us forge ahead in the right direction. Currently, the global economy has resumed growth, with emerging market and developing countries (EMDEs) delivering a strong performance. A new round of technological and industrial revolution is in the making, and reform and innovation are gaining momentum. We have enough reason to believe that our world will be a better place.On the other hand, more than 700 million people are still living in hunger; tens of millions of people are displaced and become refugees; so many people, including innocent children, are killed in conflicts. The global economy is still not healthy enough and remains in a period of adjustment featuring weak growth, and new growth drivers are yet to emerge. Economic globalization is facing more uncertainties. Emerging market and developing countries find themselves in a more complex external environment. The long road to global peace and development will not be a smooth one.Some people, seeing that emerging market and developing countries have experienced growth setbacks, assert that the BRICS countries are losing their lustre. It is true that affected by complex internal and external environments, we BRICS countries have encountered headwinds of varying intensity. But the growth potential and trend of our countries remain unchanged, and we are fully confident about it.Looking at the past decade, it has witnessed the unfolding of all-round reform and opening up in China and its rapid economic and social development. Over these ten years, China’s economic aggregate has grown by 239 per cent and its total volume of exports and imports in goods risen by 73 per cent. China has become the world’s second largest economy, the lives of its 1.3 billion-plus people have been significantly improved, and China has made increasingly greater contribution to both regional and global economic development.It is true that as China’s reform endeavors have entered a crucial stage where tough challenges must be met, some underlying difficulties and problems have surfaced, which must be addressed with resolve and determination. As a Chinese saying goes, ‘Effective medicine tastes bitter’. The medicine that we have prescribed for ourselves is to carry out all-round reform. Over the past five years, we have adopted over 1,500 reform measures covering all sectors, with breakthroughs made in multiple areas, and the reform is being pursued with greater intensity. The pace of economic structural adjustment and industrial upgrading has accelerated. China’s economy has maintained steady and sound performance, and new drivers sustaining development have grown in strength. In the first half of this year, China’s economy grew by 6.9 per cent, the value added from services accounted for 54.1 per cent of the GDP, and 7.35 million urban jobs were created. All these achievements have proven that deepening all-round reform is the right path that we should continue to follow.Going forward, China will continue to put into practice the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and inclusive development. We will adapt to and steer the new normal of economic XI JINPING, PRESIDENT, THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINAACHIEVING A WIN-WIN GLOBAL COOPERATION “GOING FORWARD, CHINA WILL CONTINUE TO PUT INTO PRACTICE THE VISION OF INNOVATIVE, COORDINATED, GREEN, OPEN AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT ”The Belt and Road Initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to connect major Eurasian economies through infrastructure, trade and investment. Often referred to as a modern day ‘Silk Road’ it will stretch over 10,000km and connect more than 60 countries.028 THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES