Global South Think Tanks Forum highlights cooperation, exchanges, unity

Officials and experts at the Global South Think Tanks Forum in Beijing underscored the critical need for collaboration among Global South countries to address challenges and promote mutual development.

Organized by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and the China Media Group (CMG), China's state broadcaster, the forum took place on Wednesday, ahead of the 2024 BRICS Leaders' Summit, set for Oct 22 to 24 in Kazan, Russia.

The event attracted political figures, government representatives, analysts, scholars and journalists from 76 countries and regions worldwide.

During the forum, Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, highlighted China's commitment to solidarity with Global South nations, and advocated for the implementation of key initiatives to enhance the role of these countries in building a community with a shared future for mankind.

"As a member of the Global South, China has long stood in solidarity with other fellow Global South countries through thick and thin, acting as an advocate and an important player in South-South cooperation. Going forward, China will stand united with other Global South countries to shoulder responsibilities and contribute to the implementation of key initiatives including the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. Together, we will amplify the strength of the Global South in building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Liu.

Shen Haixiong, president of CMG, highlighted the broadcaster's dedication to fostering dialogue and understanding among Global South countries.

"We (China Media Group) will actively build bridges and connections for dialogue, mutual learning and mutual understanding between China and Global South countries. We will also provide a platform for Global South think tanks to amplify their voices in promoting win-win cooperation and advocating fairness and justice. We stand ready to work with think tanks from the Global South to contribute more to the building of community with a shared future for mankind and to help the world move toward a brighter future of peace, security, prosperity and progress," said Shen.

At the forum, 40 think tanks from Global South countries jointly released an initiative, reaching a broad consensus on enhancing development cooperation, promoting fairness and justice, and collaborating to build a global community for peace, security, prosperity, and progress for all.

"I'm a great enthusiast of the work of think tanks. As a member of think tanks myself, I really think that we play an important role in sharing knowledge, in promoting dialogue, promoting understanding, especially among countries that are so far away from each other, which is the case for Brazil and China. So we have geographical distance, we have the language issues, a lot of gaps of knowledge that think tanks are the best instrument for us to build upon," said Larissa Wachholz, senior fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI), the country's leading think tank dedicated to advancing the global agenda.

Samuel Ayammah, a journalist with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, said the forum had great potential to foster unity among Global South countries, allowing for effective knowledge sharing and consensus building on critical issues.

"I feel so excited because one particular issue that has always affected the Global South has to do with disunity. So this brings together people of different backgrounds, people of different ideas. It is a knowledge-sharing platform where everybody will bring what he feels is right on board for us to all discuss. So at the end of the day, you arrive at a consensus; you arrive at something that will go a long way to help develop the Global South," noted Ayammah.

"I think when you talk about South-South cooperation, and we include development, it's more about countries in the developing world being partners towards economic progress and development through exchanges of technological know-how, even technology transfer, and knowledge exchanges through different kinds of mechanism," said Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, director and vice president for External Affairs at the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, a Manila-based think tank.

Raphael Bamidele Oni, editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Diplomats Extra Magazine, called for greater focus on South-South cooperation, highlighting the need for collaborative efforts to address global challenges.

"South-South cooperation is something we need to give adequate attention to at this time because the world has become a global village. So whatever happens in country A will affect country B. So we need to sit down together and draw up plans in tackling the problem in the world. There are plenty of challenges we know in terms of trade, economy, world politics. You can see presently there are fights in the Middle East. So some of these things are what we as individuals should sit down in South-South cooperation to talk about how to bring lasting peace to the world," he said.

Global South Think Tanks Forum highlights cooperation, exchanges, unity

China's new tax policies came into effect on Sunday, which are expected to support the steady and healthy development of the real estate market, a pillar industry of the country's national economy.

In mid November, the Ministry of Finance said the country will increase incentives in terms of deed tax to actively support people's essential housing needs and needs for improving their housing conditions.

Individuals purchasing their only residential property or a second home, as long as the area does not exceed 140 square meters, will pay deed tax at a rate of one percent across the country. For properties with an area exceeding 140 square meters, the deed tax will be levied at a rate of 1.5 percent.

Home buyers planning to buy second homes in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will benefit the most from the revised deed tax, as a previous rate of three percent had been applied to all four of these first-tier cities, according to officials.

On the morning of Monday, the first working day after the new policies came into force, a tax service hall in downtown Beijing was bustling with homebuyers, accompanied by real estate agents, who seek to pay tax and register their homes.

"This is the second house my family bought. It is about 100-square-meters big at a price of more than eight million yuan (about 1.1 million U.S. dollars). Following the new policy, I paid a deed tax of 80,000 yuan, saving 160,000 yuan compared with the previous policy," said a homebuyer.

"Today is the first working day after the new policy came into force. We and our clients made appointments on this day to handle tax payment and transfer of (house) ownership to enjoy the benefits of the new tax policies as soon as possible," said Sun Licheng, a real estate agent.

"Today, both taxpayers making online applications (for real estate's tax payment and transfer of ownership) and those doing business offline are apparently more than usual. We have not only added three service counters to our tax hall, but also increased staff for offline and online application review," said Chen Zhan, director of the sixth taxation office at the Beijing Haidian District Taxation Bureau under the State Taxation Administration. The Beijing municipal taxation bureau expects the new tax policies to strengthen the property market's recovery momentum, and promote the stable and healthy development of the sector.

Data show that in November, 18,520 pre-owned houses were signed online in Beijing, marking a month-on-month increase of eight percent and a year-on-year growth of 50 percent.

New tax policies in place, property market recovers