The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), established in 2001 and held every year, has since become the most important economic forum of the Asian continent. As regards its recognition, the BFA is often compared to the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland. Regular participants of the event, taking place on one of the islands of Boao, a town in Hainan province, China, include the world’s economic and political elite. Sustainability, education and health care, and economic cooperation have become major topics on the Forum’s agenda over the past few years. In view of the Covid pandemic, the event took place online and offline simultaneously between 18 and 21 April this year.
The Magyar Nemzeti Bank was represented by Deputy Governor Mihály Patai as keynote speaker in the panel discussion titled ‘The role of sustainable finance and high quality developments in the One Belt, One Road programme’. Mr Patai attended the event via a live video call among other foreign contributors to the programme. Zhou Xiaochuan, Vice Chairman of the BFA and former Governor of the People’s Bank of China, Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Kairat Kelimbetov, Governor of the Astana International Financial Centre, also participated in the panel discussion.
In his speech, the MNB’s Deputy Governor said that one of the most important lessons of the past decade was that successful crisis management was based not only on appropriate central bank programmes but also on the success of cooperation between fiscal and monetary policy. He stressed that central banks had a key role to play in achieving financial stability and ensuring the provision of adequate liquidity for the economy. He mentioned growing debts, the rapid spread of financial innovations, digitalisation and the green economy as well as the significant transformation of consumer habits as the megatrends shaping the 21st century. In the Deputy Governor’s view, we are on the threshold of a new era, the engine of which will be Eurasia. One of the most important challenges of this era will be to achieve long-term sustainability.