From 18-19th June 2016, the Think20 (T20) Conference on Innovation, New Economy and Structural Reform took place in the county of Anji, Zhejiang Province, PR China. The international conference, jointly hosted by China Academy of West Region Development (CAWD) and Zhejiang University welcomed participants and guests from over 25 countries, including about ten G20 member countries.
T20 is the think tank and academic arm of the G20 global governance mechanism, the group of 20 leading developed and developing countries cooperating on major global issues. The conference was opened by Stanley Mutumba Simataa, President of the 38th Session of the General Conference on UNESCO, who emphasized on the need for global solutions to poverty reduction.
SCSI’s programme director Mr. Benjamin Klinger provided an input on the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative in the light of sub-regional approaches for sustainable development and moderated a panel session. In his speech, he highlighted the need for sustainable regional integration to foster effective implementation of the B&R Initiative in Asia. Thus, sub-regional mechanisms like the Greater Tumen initiative (GTI) could benefit from and provide best practices to improve mega-regional initiatives.