International

Envoy looks forward to further China-UN teamwork

As part of evolving China-United Nations collaborations, the recent China visit by Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, marks “a particularly auspicious beginning to the Year of the Rabbit”, the UN’s top envoy in China Siddharth Chatterjee said.

Chatterjee, UN development system resident coordinator in China, said that Korosi “was very encouraged by China’s readiness to cooperate on the issues he raised, particularly advancing multilateralism, the General Assembly processes and UN reforms, as well as the upcoming UN 2023 Water Conference in March” when meeting with senior Chinese officials.

Korosi visited Beijing and Zhengzhou, Henan province, from Wednesday through Saturday. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, along with the water conference scheduled next month, were high on his agenda.

“The meetings got off to an excellent start, and I am grateful to the government of China for the hospitality, generosity and courtesy extended to Mr Korosi,” Chatterjee said in an exclusive interview.

Envisioning the potential highlights of the cooperation framework between China and the UN this year, Chatterjee mentioned three pillars, all starting with the letter “p” — “people and prosperity”, “planet” and “partnership”.

Emphasizing the need to safeguard China’s major achievement of lifting more than 770 million people out of abject poverty over the past 40 years, the envoy said the UN is committed to supporting China in its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) in order to “reduce inequalities between urban and rural areas”.

Supporting President Xi Jinping’s vision for the country to achieve carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, Chatterjee said, “We can build more alliances of businesses to come together in the drive toward low-carbon economic growth. Public-private partnerships will be critical, and China can serve as a model for the rest of the world.”

He endorsed China’s partnerships with the African Union and African countries, saying that “the UN can act as a platform to help bring all of this together”. A lot of progress, particularly in 2022, has been made in areas such as climate change, food security, industrialization and low-carbon economic growth, he added.

Speaking on global challenges, Chatterjee highlighted the COVID-19 pandemic, rising conflicts, the climate crisis and growing inequalities. He said that China “has done very well from a public health perspective in managing its COVID-19 response”, and that he “equally commends China on opening up the economy”.

“China has passed the long winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re in a year of hope. I think the Year of the Rabbit is a beacon of hope,” he said.

Chatterjee thanked the Chinese government once again for its push for multilateralism. “China has become a very strong supporter of the UN global budget as well as the UN peacekeeping budget,” he said.

“Multilateralism must be reinforced, otherwise rising conflicts, the climate crisis, pandemics will not be stopped. … We need more cooperation, more diplomacy, rather than confrontation and competition,” he added.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi proposing the Belt and Road Initiative.

“I see the BRI as one of the most important initiatives that China took,” Chatterjee said, referring to transportation facilities China has helped build in Africa. He has worked as UN resident coordinator in Kenya.

“The African Continental Free Trade Area will not be possible unless Africa is physically and digitally connected. With a population expected to reach 2.5 billion, Africa will be the driver of future economic growth and prosperity in the world,” he said.

“I hope the year 2023 becomes a turning point, where we will see more collaborations between member states and between companies to advance the BRI into a bigger ambition of really connecting the whole world,” he added. (PR)

International

10 % ON EXPORTS TO US

US President Donald Trump says it’s Liberation Day in America as he announced his sweeping new tariffs. The new measures took effect at midnight. Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed several of the measures.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 10 percent universal tariff on all imports into the country. This includes Barbadian exports to the American market. According to Mr. Trump, the tariff is in retaliation for the 10 per cent tariff now charged by Jamaica on U.S. imports.

The tariff means American consumers are likely to see an increase in the price of Jamaican goods sold on the U.S. market.

St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, St. Kitts and Antigua are among the Caribbean countries that will also see a 10% tariff applied to their exports.

Nearly 60 countries across the world have been hit with tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to as high as 49 per cent. China, countries in the European Union, Taiwan and Vietnam are among the hardest hit. It’s one of the most sweeping impositions of tariffs in U.S. history.

Trump says the tariffs are aimed at protecting American markets from unfair global trade practices. He’s projecting a resurgence in American manufacturing as a result of the sweeping tariffs.

International

China’s Xi Jinping tells top global CEOs to use their influence to defend trade

Gathering of senior business leaders in Beijing comes amid rising tensions with US

Xi Jinping has urged global business leaders to work together to protect supply chains at a meeting with a group of executives including Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz and Georges Elhedery of HSBC.

Amid a deepening trade war with the US, the Chinese leader told the group of more than 40 business leaders, which also included Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, Miguel Ángel López Borrego of Thyssenkrupp and Amin Nasser of Saudi Aramco, that foreign business leaders should resist behaviours that “turn back the clock” on history.

“We hope everyone can take a broad and long-term view . . . and not blindly follow actions that disrupt the security and stability of global industrial chains and supply chains, but instead contribute more positive energy and certainty to global development,” Xi told the gathering in Beijing on Friday.

The event at the Great Hall of the People marked the second consecutive year that Xi held a carefully staged meeting with foreign chief executives in the Chinese capital. Last year’s event was held exclusively with US business leaders.

The meeting came at the conclusion of a busy week for Chinese policymakers, who are trying to strengthen relations with international business amid rising tensions with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

China’s premier annual CEO conference, the China Development Forum, was held in Beijing this week, followed by the Boao Forum for Asia in the tropical resort island of Hainan. Beijing is seeking to promote itself as a bastion of stability in global trade in contrast to the US, where Trump has launched successive waves of tariffs on products from aluminium to cars. The president has vowed widespread, reciprocal duties on US trading partners on April 2, threatening further disruption to international trade.

“A few countries are building ‘small yards with high walls’, setting up tariff barriers, and politicising, instrumentalising, weaponising, and over-securitising economic and trade issues,” said Xi, who was accompanied by his foreign, commerce and finance ministers.

He said these actions were forcing companies “to take sides and make choices that go against economic principles”. “This runs counter to the overarching trend of open markets,” he said. He added that foreign enterprises, especially multinational corporations, had “considerable international influence”.

“We hope everyone will . . . resist regressive moves that turn back the clock,” Xi said. “Together, we must safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains. “Decoupling and severing ties harms others without benefiting oneself; it leads nowhere.”

International

US to Negotiate with Regional Governments on Hiring of Cuban Doctors

US special envoy to the Caribbean and Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, says the United States intends to negotiate a mechanism with Caribbean governments regarding the hiring of Cuban doctors.

The US has threatened visa restrictions for nations who benefit from Cuban medical missions. They deem the programme as a form of forced labour and trafficking on the part of the Cuban government.

Several countries in the Caribbean rely heavily on Cuban medical missions to supplement local staff.

The special envoy says the US wants a united voice against human trafficking, in favour of international labour laws. He says they look forward to reaching a deal that allows Caribbean governments to directly hire Cuban doctors.