Innovation and Openness – New Vitality of Asian Economies

I'm an Asian industrial robot. This is my whole industry chain. You can see me almost everywhere in Asia.

Asian industrial robots accounted for 65 percent of robot usage globally in 2017. And Asian manufacturers supply a high proportion of robots to the world.

My prosperity comes with the development of the digital economy, which has promoted productivity and innovation in the manufacturing industry. The digital economy has boosted the Asian economy for the past 20 years and contributes almost one-third of Asia's annual economic growth.

How did the whole industry chain of the digital economy become the engine of Asia's economic growth? Because Asia is the world's largest continent with huge markets and domestic demand from over 4 billion people. We are active in various industries, including automobiles, electronics, metalwork, plastics and more.

Asia's growth momentum has benefited the world. The contribution of Asia's GDP to global GDP rose from 14% in 1960 to 35% in 2018. Asia also has a high year-on-year growth rate, 8 percentage points above the world's average in 2010. The proportion of Asia's trade volume to the global volume rose from one fourth in 2001 to over a third in 2016.

Asia is at the forefront of digitization. But what are the concerns over the potential for mass unemployment brought by the rise of the digital economy? Can the digital revolution bring new growth patterns to the world? What does the future hold for Asia? We will wait and see.

In 2019, the world economy is experiencing dramatic changes with rising uncertainty and increased instabilities. Together with the reversal of openness policies by some developed countries, the internal and external environments for emerging Asian economies are also facing fundamental changes.

Asia's total economic volume accounts for more than one-third of the world economy and plays an important role in the global economic pattern. Guided by the principle of openness, Asia has created waves of economic progress and maintains one of the most vibrant regions, the largest global market for goods and services, and important sources of and destinations for foreign direct investment and inflows.

Asia is where the majority of emerging economies are concentrated in the 21st century. As the international environment becomes more complicated and changeable, how is Asian vitality faring? And what are the driving forces behind that vitality, both now and for the future?

This year at the Boao Forum, CGTN-Dialogue will get together with heavyweight guests to discuss these hot topics from a variety of perspectives.

We will be speaking with Diwakar GUPTA, vice-president for private sector and co-financing operations of the Asian Development Bank; Vincent Lo Hong-sui, chairman of Shui On Group; Hoe Ee KHOR, chief economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office; Dame Jenny Shipley, former prime minister of New Zealand; and Carlos M. Gutierrez, chairman of Albright Stonebridge Group and former U.S. secretary of commerce.

If you want to know more, please join us at our forum “Dialogue with Thinkers: Innovation and Openness – New Vitality of Asian Economies.”

Host: Yang Rui, from CGTN Dialogue

Time: 10:30am-12:00, 27th March

Location: Dongyu A, Level 1, BFA ICC

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)