In the evening of May 25, 2019, South-South Cooperation Night Talk: Industrialization 4.0 and Globalization 4.0 was held. Twenty-one distinguished guests from the 4th cohort of the "South-South Education Program for EconFomics and Finance" attended the talk. Besides the present and future of trade, investment and finance between China and South-South countries, opportunities and challenges for South-South Cooperation and a new thinking for the economic development of South-South Cooperation countries were also among the topics of discussion. Professor Ju Jiandong, Tsinghua PBCSF Unigroup Chair Professor and Director of the Center for International Finance and Economics Research (CIFER) at Tsinghua University, hosted the event.

South-South Cooperation Night Talk was held at Tsinghua PBC School of Finance

Co-developed by Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance and the Finance Center for South-South Cooperation (FCSSC), which is in Special Consulative Status with ECOSOC of the United Nations, the “South-South Education Program for Economics and Finance” aims to provide an exchange platform of financial education for China and South-South countries, as well as countries along China’s "Belt and Road" Initiative so as to promote experience sharing and mutual development. Since its inception in 2016, the program has attracted nearly 80 high-level government officials, executives of financial institutions and representatives of international organizations from nearly 60 countries and regions across Asia, Africa, Americas and Europe.

In the keynote speech delivered by Professor Ju Jiandong, he pointed out that today, we are facing Industrialization 4.0 represented by artificial intelligence and Globalization 4.0 driven by innovation. The “combination of Industrialization 4.0 and Globalization 4.0 brings us a key innovation. On the one hand, it could greatly boost global development; while on the other hand, it could also greatly worsen inequality among countries,” said Professor Ju. In addition, he discussed how developing countries can work together to embrace the opportunities and challenges that are crucial in this day and age.

During the “Industrialization 4.0 and Globalization 4.0: Opportunities and Challenges for South-South Cooperation” panel discussion, Jose Pedro Bastos Neves, Deputy Director of the Economic Advisory Department of the National Finance Commission of Brazil, pointed out that economic development needs the process of industrialization. He expressed that Brazil had to have a pillar industry that connects with the global value chain in order to achieve development.

“There is no political independence without economic independence,” Ramos Marinho David Junior, Director of Research and Statistics, Ministry of Territory Planning and Housing of the Republic of Angola, quoting the President of Angola. He commented that despite  government efforts, Angola has yet to achieve large-scale industrial development with the economy still highly dependent on imports. He felt that South-South Cooperation is a good opportunity for developing countries to lay the foundation for industry growth and he is very happy to see that Angola’s cooperation with China is bringing results.

Arnab Kumar Banerji, Non-Executive Board Member of the Qatar Financial Center Authority, explained that in the era of Industrialization 4.0 and Globalization 4.0, Qatar is focusing on investing in FinTech and artificial intelligence, accepting ideas from many different economies in order to integrate into the global network. He was happy to study in China and added that China’s “Belt & Road Initiative” means a large market, which Qatar wishes to connect more closely.

Barnabas Michael Aliyo, Assistant Commissioner of Macroeconomic Policy Committee of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda, suggested that now is an era of rapid development of information technology, and the use of machinery and information and communication technology is crucial. He stressed that Africa needs to do more to join the trend, and hoped that cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative would bring more innovation and educational opportunities to Africa.

Jiang Xiheng, Vice President of the China Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD), gave a keynote speech on the topic of "A New Thinking for the Economic Development of South-South Cooperation Countries". She described that as productivity rises, people's relief from heavy manual labor will be accompanied by concerns that machines may displace people. For the future, Jiang Xiheng proposed three questions. First, how long is the opportunity window for developing countries to take advantage of the relative low-cost labor and low wage in their countries to realize industrialization? Second, will a new window be opened if the old windows closes? Third, if there is a new window, what kind of skills do these countries need to develop in order to seize the opportunities? In answering the three problems, Jiang Xiheng underlined the development opportunities brought by the digital economy as well as the strengthening and updating of the education system.

"We need a positive strategy to promote education,” Yelena Bakhmutova, Chairman of the Association of Financial Organizations of Kazakhstan, asserted whilst answering questions. As for how to encourage positive education policies, she pointed out that the first thing is to pay attention to culture, and then, carry out school-enterprise cooperation, and the third, also the most important point, is to turn ideas into business operation.

Cristian Juarez Godinez, Deputy General Director of Financial Analysis and International Liaison in the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit of Mexico's Ministry of Finance, explained that Mexico’s focus is on the digital economy. "We want to integrate 65 million people into financial services, with the education and publicity of financial knowledge. We particularly hope that we can obtain some experience from China," said Cristian.

Gan Samuel Bwogo Kir, Acting Director General for Banking and Currency of the Bank of South Sudan, revealed that for the newly independent South Sudan, it is as if starting from zero. She said, "We learn from the experience of other countries. China has achieved what many countries have achieved in the past 100 years. We want to take China as an example and shorten the development period from 100 years to 30 years.”

Oswaldo Ernesto Lopez Meza, Principal Economist of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) of Venezuela, mentioned that cooperation between industry and academia is the most important lesson for him because he saw many good examples in China that cannot be seen in Venezuela.

Adhering to the concept of "One Belt One Road, Education Comes First", Tsinghua PBCSF promotes the communication and cooperation among regulatory authorities, entrepreneurs and financiers of countries along the Belt and Road, supporting deep cooperation, mutual benefit and common growth. In addition, Tsinghua PBCSF has a Belt and Road Executive MBA program, Belt and Road Media program, Belt and Road Immersion Series program and other international programs, in order to provide a platform for countries along the Belt and Road to discuss the role of finance in the Belt and Road Cooperation as well as opportunities and challenges that may surface in the future.