Promoting international collaboration on production capacity will “inject new impetus into world economic growth” and it shows China’s advantages in the new stage of development, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Aug 31.

Zhang Jun, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Economic Affairs, made the remarks when addressing the Opening Ceremony of the 4th Global Economic Leaders Summit & Forum of International Collaboration on Production Capacity in Changchun in Jilin province.

International collaboration on production capacity will allow countries to speed up structural reforms, rely more on the real economy and promote sustainable development, he said.

“International collaboration can dovetail with the needs of certain countries in advancing industrialization, improving global industry layout, optimizing both value chains and supply chains so as to boost world economic growth,” he said.

As for China, the diplomat noted that such collaboration will optimize the industry structure, push forward economic structural reform and help developing countries rely more on themselves in development.

“By leveraging our comparative advantages, we could bring development to the whole global industry chain. In this sense, promoting international collaboration on production capacity is another contribution made by China to the world economy,” Zhang said.

He also said promoting such collaboration will unleash the potential for development in Northeast China, which “has enormous space and potential for development”.

The diplomat proposed principles for promoting such collaboration, including forming synergy with the Belt and Road Initiative through coordination, making full use of the geographical advantages of the northeast through carrying forward its strengths and highlighting key areas to promote infrastructure interconnectivity.

Zhang also addressed recent attention from the international community and some concerns and discussions over the economy as he said “China’s economy is maintaining a good momentum with huge growth potential”.

“The difficulties ahead for China’s economy are temporary in nature, while in the long run, it will be of better quality and efficiency,” he said.

He observed that the RMB depreciation will not last long. “Some people overreacted to the short-term depreciation of the currency and ignored the long-term positive consequences. This kind of argument is apparently weak and not objective,” he said.

“We have every reason to be confident in China’s economy, and with our cooperation in tackling challenges, we also have every reason to be confident with the world economy,” he added.