On September 28, China Public Diplomacy Association and the international think tank, Nizami Ganjavi International Center co-hosted the Lanting Forum on international order and global governance in the post-COVID-19 era. Wu Hailong, President of China Public Diplomacy Association and Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia and Co-Chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre presided over the opening ceremony of the forum. The State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Wang Yi attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. H.E. Fukuda Yasuo, former Prime Minister of Japan and H.E. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations also adressed the ceremony. H.E. Margaret Chan, the Emeritus WHO Director-General and Dean of Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University, and over one hundred experts and scholars at home and abroad attended the forum and conducted an in-depth discussion online and offline revolving around items such as “Global Governance and Multilateralism”, “Economic Recovery and International Cooperation” and “Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation”.

In his keynote speech, H.E. Wang Yi said that our world is at another historic moment since World War II. The coronavirus keeps raging on; unilateral and bullying practice are rampant; and protectionism is on the rise. Where is our world headed in the post-COVID era? No country should take this question lightly, and more important, everyone should avoid making the wrong choice. As thus, humanity as a whole will emerge stronger from COVID-19, global governence will get better through reform, the international order will surge forward with the tide of the times. 

H.E. Fukuda Yasuo indicated that China-US relations are the biggest uncertain factor that the international community faces in the first half of the 21st century. The establishment of strategic stability between China and the United States is an issue of vital importance. The continuous development of China's public diplomacy is a concentrated expression of Chinese wisdom. In the face of the turbulent international situation, the international community should pool the wisdom of all parties to restore the world's stable order as soon as possible. H.E. Ban Ki-moon remarked that the only constant in the world today is "change". The United Nations should create a powerful synergy and urge its member states to increase their confidence in multilateralism, start with economic recovery and comprehensive reform of the global health system, and cooperate to address climate change and achieve sustainable development goals. H.E. Vaira Vike-Freiberga said that the theme of this Forum is similar to the issues of the UN General Assembly, all countries should continue to learn from each other to enhance understanding and promote inclusiveness through dialogue and diplomacy.  

After the opening ceremony, three sub-forums were held separately and simultaneously.

At the "Global Governance and Multilateralism" sub-forum, speakers said that the foothold of improving global governance should be to protect human security, focus on people's livelihood and well-being and the development agenda; the importance of global governance has never been more important than it is today, and what can save human society is still multilateralism; in the context of the global response to the challenge of the epidemic, we must seriously consider the role of multilateralism and reiterate our commitment to the United Nations and other multilateral organizations; multilateralism is a concentrated reflection of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and should be firmly defended; the world today faces many threats and challenges that call for joint response by all countries. At present, the voice of the international community which supports the maintenance of multilateralism is still the mainstream.

At the "Economic Recovery and International Cooperation" sub-forum, speakers said that after the epidemic, the new tide of globalization will be an irresistible historical trend; international cooperation will be more important than ever and needs to be strengthened; a high level of opening-up can help China promote economic transformation and development, and better integrate with the international community; the UN mechanism can effectively coordinate relations between major powers, and the multilateralism led by the UN must play a substantive role; all countries should strengthen the positive guidance for the investment and competition in their own countries.

At the "Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation" sub-forum, speakers said that the epidemic is a common problem faced by mankind, which brings challenges and difficulties to poverty eradication efforts, and affects in general the global fight against poverty; China is a contributor to the global economic development and poverty alleviation work and also its beneficiary. In cooperation with the WHO, China has become the first country to successfully fight and contain the epidemic after the outbreak of the COVID-19. This has brought people a sense of security; the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind is at the right time, and it has helped us successfully fight the epidemic and alleviate poverty; the United Nations is a force that benefits mankind, and it has shown great value in uniting countries to promote peace and development. In the post-epidemic era, we will enter a new model of global cooperation. We must take the opportunity of launching the "Decade of Action" plan, focus on the challenges which developing countries face, and deeply integrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda with national development strategies to maximize cohesion for reducing poverty aiming at building a better world with common prosperity and away from poverty. Every country must work together to make multilateralism great again.

At the closing ceremony, Serageldin, former Vice President of World Bank and Co-Chair of Nizami Ganjavi International Center, said that in the face of the virus, all people and countries are the same, and the Orient and the Occident should learn from each other. It is necessary to further improve the international system and deal with various risks within the framework of WHO and other multilateral mechanisms. Confronted with global challenges such as the pandemic, economic development, environmental protection and poverty reduction, the world expects China to play an important leading role and it’s a must to avoid a Cold War between China and the United States.

President Wu Hailong made a concluding speech saying that this Lanting Forum coincides with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. Chinese and foreign guests conducted constructive exchanges and dialogues, gathered broad consensus and put forward valuable suggestions. They agreed that all countries in the world should work together to overcome the pandemic; coordination and cooperation should be strengthened to create the necessary conditions for the recovery of the world economy; global governance should be improved and multilateralism should be revitalized to jointly respond to global crises and challenges. The forum achieved a resounding success.

Foreign guests who attended the forum include: H.E. Susan Elliott, President of National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Cliff Kupchan, Chairman of Eurasia Group,Yawei Liu, Director of China Program at the Carter Center, William. C. Kirby, Professor of Harvard University, Chairman of the Harvard China Fund, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Bruno Maçães, Former Minister for Europe Affairs in the Portuguese Government and Non-resident Senior Fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China (RDCY) ,Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs), Rana Mitter, Director of the University of Oxford China Centre, Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University,John Ross, Former Director of Economic and Business Policy for the Mayor of London, Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist for the Financial Times,and Yuri Tavrovsky, Professor of the People's Friendship University of Russia, Director of Russian Dream and Chinese Dream Research Center.    

Chinese guests are H.E. Fu Ying, Chair of CISS at Tsinghua University, Former Vice Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Wei Jianguo，Former Vice Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Zhu Guangyao，Former Vice Minister of Finance of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Chen Xiaogong, Academic Member of CISS at Tsinghua University, Former Deputy Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Li Junru, Former Vice President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Margaret Chan, Dean of the Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University, Former Director-General of WHO, Chi Fulin, President of the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development, Cui Hongjian, Director of the Department of European Studies, China Institute of International Studies, Zhou Hong，Deputy Director General of the Academic Division of International Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,Wang Dong, Executive Director of Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University ,Wang Wen, Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, and Han Hua, Board Member of China Forum.