Full coverage: G20 Hangzhou Summit

by Maria Elena Spagnolo

ROME, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's role in promoting global economic growth is vital, an Italian economic expert told Xinhua in context of the forthcoming G20 summit to be held in Hangzhou, China.

The summit, from September 4 to 5, is the first ever to be hosted in China.

According to Alessia Amighini, adjoint professor of International Economics at the Catholic University of Milan, the Chinese presidency of G20 meetings has been very active in preparing the G20 summit.

"China organized a lot of meetings, cooperated with its successor the German presidency. G20 is a very important forum because it brings together G8 countries and the most important emerging countries," she said.

G20 is also a simple forum without heavy bureaucracy which aids discussions, added Amighini, who is also an assistant professor of Economics at the University of Eastern Piedmont and senior associate at the Institute for International Political Studies.

Amighini stressed the Chinese economy plays a very important role in current complex economic environment. "China's growth helps other countries' growth. For instance, Germany sells part of its production to the Chinese market. This helps also the European economy because everything in this world is interconnected," she said.

The academic believes that to boost growth, countries should enact measures on the demand and supply side both.

"On the demand side, it would be important to boost consumer confidence. It is important to increase salaries but this is difficult due to stationary productivity," she added.

On the supply side, it is important to remove existing obstacles to international trade in some countries, she said. "It is important to facilitate exchanges, reduce trade costs and to improve logistic infrastructure. It is also very important to reduce protectionism," Amighini added.

In late July, Amighini attended the Think 20 Summit, a preparatory meeting for the G20, where experts contributed ideas on how to build new global relationships.