Shanghai Forum 2015 Concluded Successfully​

Shanghai Forum 2015 successfully concluded its weekend-long conference on May 25.  Over the course of the weekend, distinguished guests attended nine roundtables, including “Dealing with Asia’s Aging Challenges,” “How to Realize the Interconnecting One-Belt-One-Road,” “Can Asia Solve Its Own Security Problems?” “Collective Social Governance of Food Security,” “Opening of China’s Finance and Integration of Asia’s Markets,” “China in the Next Decade: Economic Growth and Fiscal/Financial Transformation,” “Reshaping East Asia through FTAs: Visions, Challenges, and Strategies,” “New Economy, New Finance, New Opportunities,” and “Information Society and Governance Innovation.”  Attendees also participated in a selection of sessions regarding various themes of politics, economics, governance, society, and environment, with a total of 21 sessions held throughout the weekend.

On the last day of the ceremony, Shanghai Forum held “A Conversation with Dr. Ben S. Bernanke,” featuring speakers Ben Bernanke, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System, and Zhang Jun, Dean of the School of Economics, Director of the China Center for Economic Studies at Fudan University, and Vice Dean of Fudan Development Institute. 

 Following the conversation, the Forum hosted a roundtable regarding “China in the Next Decade: Economic Growth and Fiscal/Financial Transformation,” organized by Fudan University and the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  The roundtable featured speakers including Adam S. Posen, Yao Yang, Nicholas R. Lardy, Li Weisen, Jacob Kirkegaard, and Paolo Mauro.

At the end of the day, the closing ceremony concluded the successful 3-day long forum.  The ceremony was hosted by Feng Xiaoyuan, Vice President of Fudan University, 

and featured speakers including Park In-kook, President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies,

 and Lin Shangli, Vice President of Fudan University and Executive Vice Chair of Shanghai Forum Organizing Committee. 

The 2015 Shanghai Forum Consensus was also released during the closing ceremony.  It called for a series of actions based on the five categories of the sessions: politics, economy, environment, governance, and society with an emphasis on regional cooperation.  The Consensus suggested that Asian countries could only prosper when they coexist peacefully; therefore, they should learn that with good, neighborly friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation, they would be able to resolve disputes and conflicts of the region.  Following this idea, the Consensus also called upon Asian countries to adhere to the idea of mutually beneficial cooperation and a win-win outcome is essential to promote their economic and social innovation.  Asian markets should accelerate market integration and foster various forms of economic cooperation at different levels, improve regulation of financial markets while strengthening their financial markets and facilities, and reduce restrictions on the domestic market access of capital accounts, foreign banks, and other financial companies, promoting the integration of Asian financial markets.  The Consensus also stated that it is the bounden duty of Asia to participate in new environmental governance initiatives and actively participate in international initiatives.  The Consensus called upon Asian countries to contribute to forming a “free, secure, innovative, and dynamic”Internet and explore new modes of cooperation and supervision in order to improve the inequality and imbalance of the global Internet resource, especially in the face of rapid economic globalization and the increasing role and importance of technology.  Concerning aging population and food safety issues for social governance, the Consensus states that Asian countries must cooperate on the research and share practical experience to seek fair and efficient solutions.  In conclusion, the Consensus stated that though Asia still has a long and arduous way to go in the face of new challenges and opportunities, it has the wisdom, confidence, and responsibility to create a new cooperative model for the world and create a new path for growth.