The global changes at the turn of the two millennia and the epidemic of the century are currently intertwined. The world economy is struggling to recover and is facing many complex challenges. Economic globalisation is facing headwinds. Where is the world heading? Will it be more open or more closed than now? Cooperation or confrontation?
This is the reason why it is necessary to continuously emphasise the need for building an open world economy. There must be no restraints or reversals of trend. We need to be on the right side of history, expanding relentlessly by fully opening up to every innovation we can control, such as, hopefully, Artificial Intelligence – inter alia – about which we will speak later in connection with a new economic world order. We need to build a community with a shared future for the whole of mankind. The planet is circumscribed: there are no more terrae nullius – in the broadest sense – to be conquered, or peoples “to be educated” through the bogus, mystifying and hypocritical “white man’s burden” or various divining “manifest destinies” to be imposed on others with smart bombs or humanitarian wars.
Building an open world economy is an inevitable choice in line with the historical trend of equal development, or rather with the elimination of colonial, neo-colonial and imperialist remnants. Equal economic globalisation is the only way for the development of human society. Economic globalisation is historically the objective prerequisite for the development of social productive forces, and the inevitable result of scientific and technological progress has given great momentum to world economic growth. It has favoured the flow of goods and capital, the progress of science and technology and civilisation: indeed, Artificial Intelligence, which until yesterday seemed like science fiction, with yesterday’s eye projected onto today may seem uchronia, but is objective reality.
Exchanges between peoples are in line with the common interests of all States. In today’s world, a new step of scientific and technological revolution, as well as industrial transformation, proves to be each time a profound development. The system of global governance is deeply changing and the international model is affected, thus speeding up the process.
The interests of all countries are interwoven and destiny is shared. Cooperation and mutually beneficial relations – in the case of bilateral relations – are becoming the general trend. Peace, development, cooperation and mutual gain would be the trend of the present times, even if not yet achieved due to the needs and demands of the international war industry (see the case of the Ukraine-Russia war).
After all, no one can cope with the various challenges facing mankind alone, and no country can turn geographically into an island closed in on itself, such as the United Kingdom which dominated the world in the 19th century, also thanks to its physical configuration, later followed by its former colony, namely the United States of America.
Openness brings progress and, conversely, isolation will inevitably leave those that supports it behind. If a country wants to develop and thrive, it must grasp, follow and adapt to the general trend of world development, otherwise it will inevitably be left behind by History. The desired project of a new world economic order firmly pursues a strategy for liberalising and facilitating trade and high-level investment policies, and promotes the creation of a pattern of contacts and relations linking land, sea, overseas, East and West, which are the fundamental promoters of a common global open-minded approach. They are the pivots of a stable source of strength and power for global economic growth, regulated by the jus gentium.
Building an open world economy is an unavoidable prerequisite to advance and adhere to the common values of all mankind. Countries have different histories, cultures, systems and levels of development, but the people of each State pursue the common values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind: gens una sumus. The common value of all mankind embodies consensus on the respect for the values of each different human civilisation. It represents mankind’s common quest for a better future and is also an important symbol of human progress.
The fact of building an open world economy, of fostering economic globalisation in a more open, inclusive, balanced and win-win way for everybody, of pursuing cooperation instead of war and/or political confrontation, of embracing openness instead of narrow-mindedness, of pursuing mutual benefit and avoid a zero-sum game means to consciously promote adherence to the common feelings and sentiments of all mankind.
Practice has shown that the peaceful development of the world is inseparable from mutual openness and tolerance. Any unilateralism and extreme self-interest are totally unworkable. Engaging in “inner circles” must also be fully rejected. The same holds true for triggering confrontation along outdated ideological policy lines, which in the past meant oppressing the weak so that the winner could take it all. The particularism of self-styled economic-political and ideologically imposing elites is an increasingly narrow blind alley. Believing to be the repository of truth and wanting to impose one’s own model on States, countries and nations, as well as peoples, is a moral and above all a factual crime.
Only with a highly responsible attitude towards the future and the destiny of mankind can we promote the construction of an open world economy, and practise global governance with broad consultation as a joint contribution to shared benefits. Support exchanges and mutual learning between different sources of knowledge is the right way for the world to grow wider. This means being on the right side of History and continuing to promote the construction of new economic and political world orders.
Mankind is currently emerging from a particular historical period. The Covid-19 epidemic has fully affected the planet and we have sustained global changes not seen for more than a century, as a reminder of the Spanish flu pandemic. The global industrial and supply chains have been affected. There have often been cases of unilateralism, protectionism and interstate bullying, i.e. risks and uncertainties in the international community. The world, however, has not returned to a state of total mutual closure and separation. Open cooperation is still maintaining itself as a historical trend and the possibilities of common benefits for all are still what people, namely citizens, want and desire.
Based on these principles, not only will individual people gain momentum for development in the future, but the world will benefit even more. To this end, on the one hand, it is crucial to establish an overarching vision, and to firmly pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of openness for all. This means going global with a proactive attitude, and insisting on the implementation of broader cooperation between States, so that a wider scope and deeper awareness of openness to the outside world can be reached. Only by taking action in this world will we be able to achieve a higher level of participation.
The system of an open economy will step up the construction of a new development model with the domestic cycle as the main structure and national and international cycles promoting each other, so as to create new advantages in international economic cooperation and free competition.
On the other hand, we need to promote the construction of a new type of international relations, to adhere to the correct concept of justice and interests in international trade, and to oppose all forms of protectionism, hegemonism and Cold War mentality. Not only does this encourage countries to make full use of their comparative advantages and jointly optimise the allocation of global economic resources, but it also fosters the construction of a global value chain for shared benefits that can promote a global market for the benefit of all parties. This means creating a free multilateral and non-discriminatory trading system for the benefit of global economic stability, post-Covid recovery and sustainable development. (3. end)