Unity key to greater voice of Global South

BEIJING, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a news report from China Daily.

Global South nations should build on their unity and amplify their voice in multilateral mechanisms to better enjoy the dividends of evolving technologies and economic globalization, prominent political figures, scholars and media executives said on Wednesday.

They made the remarks at the Global Strategic Dialogue (2026), a high-end think tank forum held in Beijing. Themed "Unite Global South, Improve Global Governance", the forum was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and China Daily. It gathered over 100 leading researchers and experts from countries including China, Russia, France and Austria.

Li Xuesong, vice-president of the CASS, noted that China will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in November and assume the presidency of BRICS next year.

By seizing these opportunities, "China will work with various parties to forge consensus, expand cooperation and advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalization", Li said at the opening of the forum.

For global governance, countries should lay a solid foundation through genuine multilateralism, boost quality and efficiency through sustainable and shared development, and fix setbacks through innovative cooperation mechanisms, he said.

Li called for more efforts to oppose politicization and weaponization of economic and trade issues, and "create favorable conditions for Global South countries to integrate into the international division of labor and cooperation and share dividends of economic globalization".

Djoomart Otorbaev, former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, said that efforts to reform the international system and global governance remain inadequate, and that the Global South should be fairly and appropriately represented in global governance structures.

Regarding the shareholder structure and voting rights of the International Monetary Fund, he said, "Why don't we give the countries of the Global South more voting rights?"

It was remarkable that during the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in September 2025, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative "not to replace the existing (international) system, but to reform it to reflect our world order", Otorbaev said.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence "are evolving faster than our capacity to govern", he said, adding that "the world is simply changing much faster than the structures meant to guide it".

Xing Zhigang, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said that as key players in knowledge production, policy coordination and discourse shaping, think tanks in the Global South play an irreplaceable role in building collective consensus and optimizing international rules.

"The Global South should build on consensus, speak with one voice, and constantly boost its drive to set international agendas," he said.

Think tanks in the Global South should provide evidence-based policy analysis and research, participate in the process of optimizing international rules, and foster the creation of original perspectives while building an independent discourse system, Xing said.

They should also support multilateral practices, bridge the gap between concepts and institutional implementation, establish platforms for dialogue and foster consensus, he added.

Zou Jiayi, president and chair of the board of directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, said the Global South can contribute to reshaping development cooperation.

More developing countries are becoming active shareholders and donors of multilateral development banks, and emerging and developing economies are important driving forces behind economic transformation, she said.

Zou said that she visited more than 30 member economies of the AIIB — most of them developing economies — over the past few months, and was encouraged by the consistent message calling for more infrastructure and infrastructure financing.

"Emerging and developing economies play a pivotal role in rebalancing the global economy. When trade protectionism is pervasive in some parts of the world, most developing economies continue to embrace openness in trade and investment," she said.

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SOURCE China Daily