Interview: Boao Forum for Asia vital platform to devise solutions to global challenges: Cambodian diplomat

PHNOM PENH, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is an imperative platform to discuss and devise solutions to global challenges and to revitalize the commitment to promoting globalization, trade and investment liberalization and people-to-people connectivity, a Cambodian diplomat said.

The BFA, scheduled from Tuesday to Friday in Boao, a coastal town in China's southern island province of Hainan, will be themed by "Shared Future, Concerted Action, Common Development."

In a written interview with Chinese media ahead of the forum, Cambodian Foreign Ministry's Under-Secretary of State Sok Soken said the forum's theme is topical, current and definitely relevant to Asia and the world at large.

"We are experiencing extreme volatility, concerning asymmetric relations with ever-increasing complexity and top with heightened uncertainties across all aspects of our daily life," he said.

He said these characterizations owe largely to the results of the strategic competition among great powers, trade and technological confrontation, erosion of international liberal multilateralism due to protectionism, populism and mounting non-traditional security threats such as cybersecurity and technological competition arising from the Industrial Revolution 4.0, and those of climate-related and trans-border organized crimes.

"While there are ample examples of the challenges of our time, there is no quick-fix solution. On top of that, we have seen the lack of effective collective responses to those challenges," Soken said.

"In this connection, the BFA is definitely part of the solutions," the diplomat said.

He said the forum also serves as a center stage where Asian perspectives on international affairs can be discussed, shared and echoed in the spirit to promote Asia's unity, identity, and commitment to durable peace and shared prosperity in the region and beyond.

"And unequivocally, the BFA represents a bridge to link China with Asia and the rest of the world, where efforts are mobilized to promote mutual trust and respect through confidence-building measures and preventive diplomacy," he said.